Helped
by SiriuslylvnSirius25
Summary: PREVIOUSLY CALLED NJAToR. The Marauders, Lily, and Co. are starting their sixth year at Hogwarts, but they're getting more than they bargained for when a secret of one of them almost destroys her and the ones around her. What can they do to help her?
1. Train Back

**Disclaimer-As much as I wish that I was the wonderful creator of the Harry Potter world...I'm not, JK is so everything belongs to her except the plot and any unfamiliar things.**

**A/N This is edited to have more detail and stuff…so yea (1/31/07)**

**1:Train Back**

Lily Evans was a beautiful girl starting her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She had long thick red hair and glowing green eyes. Her milky complexion went great with her appearance.

She waved good-bye to her muggle parents, Arianna and Jonathan, and sister, Petunia, as she boarded the Hogwarts Express. She was muggle-born, but she wasn't ashamed of it. She knew that she was just as good as any other witch or wizard. Petunia didn't think so though. She used to be Lily's best friend until the day she received her letter. Petunia turned her back on Lily that day and it was never the same after. She hated magic. Lily thinks that she's frightened of it, but her friends would argue otherwise. They think that she's jealous that Lily is a witch and she isn't. Either way she hated her, so Lily returned the feelings.

Lily dragged her trunk and her cat, Cocoa's, cage down the row of compartments looking for an empty one. At the end of the row she spotted one. She took her seat and looked out the window watching Platform 9 3/4 shrink in the distance.

Five minutes into the ride the compartment door slid open and Shaina, one of Lily's best friends, stepped in.

"Hey Lils!" Shaina exclaimed as she ran up and threw her arms around Lily.

"Shai! Oh, its soo good to see you! How was your summer?"

"It was wonderful! Australia was beautiful!" she replied. Shaina was an athletic brunette. Her hair hung just below her shoulders in straight strands. She had illuminating chocolate brown eyes and was a little taller than Lily. She received a dark tan while she was away that summer. She looked amazing.

Shaina was a half blood. Her mother was a witch and her father a muggle, but she didn't care. She loved them both. Her father was fascinated with the wizarding world and loved getting letters from Shaina talking about school and magic.

"How about yours? Did Petunia give you a hard time?"

"Eh, it was okay and no she didn't. We pretty much avoided each other whenever we could. Besides she seems to think that I'll hex her if she goes anywhere near me…wonder where she got that idea…" Lily answered and they laughed together.

"What's so funny?" Massie, their other best friend, walked in. She was the prettiest of the group with long, wavy golden hair and bright blue eyes. Most of the boys at school dream about the day they could go out with her, in fact most want to go out with any of the three.

Massie was muggle-born like Lily, but she was an only child like Shaina. She didn't have to deal with a jealous sister or brother.

"Are you making fun of me? I knew I was the 'Karin' in this group!" she exclaimed referring to Dane Cook. Dane Cook is a muggle comedian from America. One of Lily's muggle friends gave her one of his CDs for her birthday last year.

"Yep! Sorry to disappoint you, but we don't like 'Karin's'," Shaina said sarcastically and the girls laughed hysterically.

"Oh, thanks," Massie retorted when they were done laughing. She wrapped her arms around her best friends. "I've missed you guys so much!" she said releasing them.

"Us too," Lily and Shaina said in unison.

"Jinx!" they yelled again in unison pointing at each other. All three girls started laughing hysterically for the third time in the ten minutes they've been with each other. They took their seats trying to catch their breath. They knew it wasn't that funny but it was the fact that they were all there together going back to the place they all love the most, Hogwarts.

Ten minutes later the compartment door slid open to reveal the infamous marauders James Potter, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew.

James was a handsome boy with jet-black hair and wonderful hazel eyes. He was pure-blooded. His parents are the top aurors in the business. He's been in love with Lily since fourth year so, of course, he sat next to Lily.

Sirius was an even more handsome boy with black hair that hung just above his brown eyes. He was a playboy. He loved girls and girls loved him. His family is a bunch of pure-blooded freaks. They think of him as a blood traitor by befriending half-bloods and muggle-borns. He disagreed though, so that summer he ran away and took refuge at James' home.

Remus was as equally handsome as James with light brown hair and blue-gray eyes. He was a half-blood, abandoned by his father when he was bitten by a werewolf therefore becoming one. His mother, though, stuck by him and gave him something to live for. She loved him no matter what.

Peter was a chubby boy with blondish-brown hair and watery blue eyes. He was half-blooded as well. His mother was a half-blood and his father a muggle-born.

"Hey Evans, how's it going?" James asked as he put his arm around her, but she just shrugged it off.

"Fine."

"How about yours Mass?" Sirius asked Massie winking at her.

"Ugh," she said while rolling her eyes and looking out the window.

The seven of them sat there in silence for about five minutes until Lily broke it. "So…Remus, What'd you think about the new Head Boy and Girl?"

"Surprising, at least the Head Boy."

"Who are they?" James asked.

"June Macnay of Ravenclaw and Lucius Malfoy of well…you know. I honestly don't know what Dumbledore was thinking when he did that," Lily answered.

"First Head Boy or Girl from Slytherin in over twenty years," Remus stated.

"Dumbledore's got to be insane! A Slytherin as Head Boy, least of all Lucius Malfoy," Sirius exclaimed.

Just then the trolley cart lady, Madame Sheray, pulled up to their compartment and asked, "Anything from the trolley dears?"

James, Sirius, and Peter practically sprinted to the trolley almost ramming into it. Remus on the other hand gently walked up and silently apologized to Madame Sheray for their behavior.

"Anything for you ladies?"

"No thank you," they answered simultaneously.

Five minutes later the four boys emerged from the cart with piles of candy in their arms. Sirius had about twice as much as the rest. He always had a large appetite. He could always be seen stuffing his face with food, yet he never seemed to gain weight.

"Gross, Sirius. How can you eat that much and not get sick?" Massie asked as she watched Sirius stuffing his face with a reproachful look on her own.

"You know-you-love it-babe," Sirius said between bites.

"Um, we're gunna be there soon, I think we'd better change. Come on Massie, Shaina."

Once outside the compartment the three girls looked at each other with disgusted looks and laughed, more out of spite. Then they left to change and walk around for a bit.

When the girls returned to the compartment twenty minutes later they saw food everywhere.

"Eww," Lily said as they entered the compartment. "You guys better go change. We're gunna be there in twenty minutes."

"Okay," James replied and he and the rest of the marauders got up and left.

"Ugh. This is disgusting," Massie said and with a flick of her wand and a simple incantation the mess was gone.

"They must have had a food fight…Boys," Shaina said.

"It was probably just James and Sirius, and maybe Peter. They're the most immature of the lot," Lily added.

"Are we now?" Sirius asked as the marauders returned.

"Yes…that was quick."

"Well, we change quickly."

The train came to a sudden stop. Lily looked out the window and saw only trees, then said, "Why did we stop? We're not at the station yet."

**A/N The reference to Dane Cook won't make sense if you don't know who Dane Cook is and haven't heard the 'Friend Nobody Likes' from his Retaliation CD. But for those who have…haha. I know that it's short, but I promise the next chapters are longer…Review please. I want to know what you think.**


	2. Dumbledore's Appearance

**2. Dumbledore's Appearance**

"If you're wondering why the train has stopped it is because I, Professor Dumbledore, have an announcement to make before we get to school." Professor Dumbledore's voice sounded throughout the train. "As many may already know, there is a new evil in the wizarding community. Lord Voldemort, as he likes to call himself, is roaming the lands. I have come here to announce this on the train because I want everyone to know this information before the feast so that there is time for it to sink in. I know this information is overwhelming to some and old news to others, but I would like you all to be cautious especially those of muggle relations. Thank you and good bye."

"Huh, um…" Lily started with a look of sheer terror on her face.

"Its okay Lily. Nothings going to happen to you at Hogwarts." James said trying to comfort her.

"I know," Lily answered, but she wasn't worried for herself. She was worried for her parents an sister, even though she and her sister never got along well since Lily was accepted to Hogwarts. She cared for them and she has heard of Voldemort. She knows that he attacks muggles as well.

"Lily, I know what you're thinking about. Don't worry, they'll be fine." Shaina said though she wasn't convincing even herself that they would be fine.

The marauders, Shaina, and Massie gave Lily a sympathetic look and sat in silence. After about five minutes someone entered the compartment. Everyone looked to see who it was and saw Dumbledore standing in the doorway. "Miss Evans, I would like to have a word with you."

"Okay," Lily answered wondering what he could possibly want with her.

Dumbledore and Lily walked out of the compartment and shut the door behind them. The rest stared out the compartment window at them. They watched as Dumbledore told Lily something that made her lose her balance. When she came back in she sat in her seat looking out the window, and tears started pouring out of her eyes.

"Lils, what's wrong?" James asked.

"Nothing."

"You can't tell us its nothing Lily. Tears are falling from your eyes faster that the train is moving," Shaina pointed out.

"When my pa-parents went home, my-my sister's boy-boyfriend called and asked for her to co-come over. Wh-while my dad drove Petunia there my mo-mom wa-was attacked by Vo-Voldemort," Lily sobbed. "And when my dad came ba-back, her found her on the kitchen floor…de-dead." Lily burst into a fit of tears and sobs. James went over to her and pat her on the shoulder to help comfort her, but it wasn't working.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Just stop, please. I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me." Lily shook James away.

They all sat in silence for the rest of the train ride back. Lily looked out the window with her tear-stained face.

They stepped onto the platform one at a time and heard a familiar voice. "Firs' years this way!" Hagrid was calling the first years towards him to board them onto the boats that would take them up to the castle. The marauders, Lily, Shaina, and Massie waved to Hagrid, who in turn waved back. They weren't the best of friends with him, but they genuinely liked him and went down to his hut for an occasional visit every now and then.

The marauders went to get a carriage together, while Lily, Shaina, and Massie found their own. Once in a carriage Lily started up a conversation wanting to get her mind off her mother, and Shaina and Massie understood.

"So are you excited for the sorting?" Lily asked. She knew it was a stupid question, but she couldn't think of anything else to say at the time.

"Not really. It's kinda boring, besides I'm hungry. I just want to eat." Shaina answered.

"Well I am. I'm interested in what the hat's going to say this year," Massie said.

"Me too." Lily agreed. "Now that there is a new evil about, it's bound to say something interesting."

"Well I realize that, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm hungry."

"Honestly sometimes I think there's not much going on up there," Lily joked and tapped her head. Shaina gave Lily an oh-very-funny sort of look. Lily just smiled, but immediately disappeared.

"Are you sure your ok?" Massie broke the unspoken agreement not to bring up Lily's mom when she saw Lily's face.

"Of course I'm not. Do you think I'm going to be ok when I found out my mother was murdered less than an hour ago?"

"No I didn't. Lily…we're here for you, just remember that. If you ever need someone to cry on or to comfort you, we're here for you."

"I know its just I loved her so much and I just saw her seven hours ago. I can't believe." Lily started to cry. Shaina and Massie went over to her and hugged her in a comforting way.

Marauders Carriage

James sat in the carriage looking at his feet with an upset look on his face. Sirius noticed this and said, "Hey Prongs, lighten up a bit. It's all right to feel sorry for Lily, but you don't need to be this upset over it. I mean its not like you actually knew her mom and plus Lily doesn't exactly…well…like you that much."

"I know, but I still feel horrible for her. I know that type of fear she has for the rest of her family. I mean Voldemort's after the aurors too. And my parents are on the top in the business. I'm scared for them. I don't know how she feels about losing her mom, but the pain I imagine is…unbearable."

"James…your parents are practically my only family. I love them almost as much as you do. I'm scared for them too, but they can handle themselves, and you know that. You cant live your life in fear for them."

"I know and I don't. I just…I don't know."

Hey well cheer up because we have our welcome back Slytherins prank to set up. Do you have the supplies Moony?

"Yup."

"Good, now how are we going to do this one?"

The Great Hall

Students started to fill the great hall. It was noisy with chatter throughout. The marauders took seats next to Lily and her friends. Lily had seemed to be a bit more cheerful probably not wanting to ruin the welcome back feast for everyone else.

"Hey ladies." Sirius said with a charming smile on his face. "Are you ready for a wild year? How did you do on your owls? James, Remus, and I all got straight O's, except for Divination in which James and I got A's, but who cares about that subject. And Peter got all A's and E's, with a P here and there."

"I got all O's," Shaina answered as if it was obvious, which in fact it was. Her, Lily, and Massie were top in all there classes along with Sirius, James, and Remus.

"Me, too." Lily said nonchalantly.

"Me three, except for Divination, which I also got an A in. But like you said who cares." Massie added.

"Well done! I knew you guys would do well," Remus said.

"Thanks." The three girls answered simultaneously.

"When is the sorting going to begin, I want it to hurry up, I'm soo hungry." Sirius said absentmindedly.

"Padfoot, you just ate soo much on the train already." Peter said.

"So, I'm hungry again. I need food constantly, you should know that."

"Ugh, disgusting." Massie muttered under her breath while shaking her head.

Professor McGonagall entered followed closely by many nervous looking first years. "Wow, they get smaller by the years, not to mention more nervous and fidgety. What's so scary about Hogwarts?" James stated.

"Nothing Prongs, they're just stupid to believe anything any of the older students tell them about the sorting. Remember last year when we told a group of them that they had to sing in front of the whole school by themselves to be sorted?" Sirius said with an evil grin.

"Ah, fun times."

"A package of dungbombs-4 sickles. A ticket to the Quidditch World Cup-75 galleons (a/n: I don't know how much any of these things would really cost, its just an estimate). The look on the face of a first year when you tell them that they have to sing in front of the whole school by themselves to get sorted-priceless." At this everyone started laughing hysterically except for Lily.

"That was a really mean thing to do."

"Ah, come on Evans, it was just a harmless joke. Besides that was last year." James said.

"So, its still not nice."

Everyone turned to face the sorting hat that was about to sing his new song.

The four founders of this school

Found and enchanted me

And placed me on this stool

To sort you into your houses;

Slytherin took those whose blood is pure

Ravenclaw wanted those of intelligence

Gryffindor took those whose bravery is sure

Good Hufflepuff wanted those who were loyal;

That is what decides where you go

But before I sort there

Is something you all should know

For there is a new about;

Known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

Everyone must stay alert

For if not the school would be shamed

With things not to be said;

Now stick close to your friends

And unite with your enemies

For all grudges must have ends

Now think about this;

So take some time to think it over

And come together in this needy time

For some things will occur

And with that lets be sorted!

With that note the sorting hat finished, and whispers began. They were immediately silenced though by Professor McGonagall. She cleared her throat and started the sorting. "When I call your name, come up, put the sorting hat on your head, and go to the house that is called out…Shara Albary!" A girl with long black hair, dark skin, and chocolate brown eyes walked over to the stool timidly. McGonagall placed the sorting hat on the girl's head and waited about a minute while the hat mulled things over and it shouted "RAVENCLAW!" There were cheers from all the houses except for Slytherin.

The sorting went on for 25 more minutes (with grumbles and groans from Sirius here and there) until Pandora Zocaris was sorted into Gryffindor. Then Sirius yelled "FINALLY!" as loud as he possibly could. "I'M STARVING!" There were muffled snorts throughout the hall.

"Thank you for that Mr. Black." Dumbledore stood up. "Now since you can't seem to survive without your food much longer I will save my speech for after dinner. So without further ado, tuck in!"

Food magically appeared in front of them. There were some gasps from the first years. Sirius had started to eat before anyone had gotten any food on his or her plates.

"Whoa slow down there mate, the foods not going anywhere." James stated.

"Iknabobabutabiabamsabohabungabry."

"Eww, that's disgusting. Don't talk with your mouth full. Besides the fact that it's gross, we couldn't understand a word you just said." Massie exclaimed.

Sirius swallowed his food and said, "I said that I know but I'm just so hungry."

"Aren't you always?" Lily asked jokingly, in a way.

"Ouch Lils, that hurts me deeply. I'm not hungry when I'm sleeping." Sirius clutched his chest pretending to be hurt by Lily's words.

"Sorry my mistake. I thought you dreamed about food too."

"Oh well you caught me there." Lily rolled her eyes and joined the conversation between Shaina and Remus.

"The hat's right, we do need to put aside our differences and befriend our enemies." Shaina said. "And that should start between you and James, Lily," she added when she noticed Lily join the conversation.

"Yea, she's right. You should at least try to be nice to each other. Well you should be to him anyway. He's already head over heels for you." Remus agreed.

"Ugh, no. Not until he deflates his head a little…scratch that a lot."

"Ill have to keep that in mind." James entered the conversation. Lily rolled her eyes. "Like you could pull that off."

"Fine, how about a bet?"

"Whatever."

"If I 'deflate' my head a bit or in your words, a lot until Christmas, then you have to go on a date with me."

"No way."

"Aww, come on Evans. It would be fun!"

"No," and with that Lily turned to talk to Massie.

"Nice try Prongs." Remus said.

"Well it was worth a shot."

Once everyone was done with their dinner and dessert, Dumbledore stood up and said, "I would like to a few start of term notices before you all go to sleep. First of all the Forbidden Forest is off limits to ALL students," Dumbledore looked directly at the marauders. They acted dumb, scratching their heads and shrugging, then smiled mischievously at each other and then to Dumbledore as if saying 'what can we say?'. "And you are all to be in your common rooms by eight o'clock every evening this year (there were mumbles and grumbles) due to the state of the wizarding world. Also, you are never, under any circumstances to wander around alone morning, day, or night. You should never be without someone else with you. Oh, and one more thing you are not to leave the castle after dinner, _ever_. Thank you and good night."

When Dumbledore finished everyone stood up and headed out of the Great Hall and up to their common rooms.

Gryffindor Common Room

The marauders were huddled together discussing their welcome back prank on the Slytherins that is to go down in the morning. "…Okay so tonight we're gunna go down to the kitchens and give them to the house elves telling them to put it in the Slytherins food and drinks at breakfast." Remus concluded.

"Yea, then we'll come back here, go to sleep, get up early tomorrow morning, go down to breakfast, and at exactly 7:45 am the charms will kick in." Sirius grinned maliciously.

"Correct. I can't wait to see the look on Snivellus' face." James said chuckling a bit.

"Oh, yes. I can't wait. I want to see all their faces!" Peter said excitedly.

"YES!" James and Sirius yelled simultaneously.

"Okay, so lets go up to the dormitory and wait until its time to leave." Remus said. The marauders got up and went to their dorm. James winked and smiled at Lily as they walked by the girls.

Gryffindor CR (Lily and friends)

Lily rolled her eyes when James winked and smiled at her. _How immature_ she thought. "So what do you think they're going to do to the Slytherins this year?"

"I don't know, but I bet it's going to be hilarious!" Shaina said.

"Oh my god Shai. It's never funny!"

"You have to admit that it's always something clever Lily. And I have to say it's usually funny and you know how much I dislike Sirius," Massie said.

"Ugh, they got you too. We already knew that Shai was gone, liking Remus and all, but you too!"

"Liking? You mean loving!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do, and Lily I'm not gone, but the only one I resent is Sirius. James, Remus, and Peter are okay."

"Whoa, wait how can you think that Sirius is bad, but not James? I mean they're practically one person!" Lily said.

"Because Sirius is soo annoying, and a pig, and rude, and inconsiderate, and…" Lily cut her off, "Okay, I get it, but James is the exact same way."

"No he's really not, he's just persistent and doesn't give up."

"Yeah, sure."

"Well if your going to be like that you'll never notice it Lily." Shaina exclaimed.

"Whatever, I'm tired. I'm gunna go to sleep." Lily got up and left Shaina and Massie.

"They're perfect for each other, Lily's just to stubborn to see it." Massie said once Lily was out of earshot.

"I know Massie, but I have a feeling that it's going to be a roller coaster of emotions for Lily before she truly realizes that they're meant for each other." They sat there for a little while until they decided to go up to bed.

Girls Dormitory

Lily walked over to her bed after getting into her pajamas and lay down. She turned over on her side and the tears started to fall. _Why did he have to take her? Why couldn't he have taken Petunia? That wouldn't have been a huge loss. It's not like we get along. But why of all people did he have to murder my mom?_ Lily thought. She rested her head on her pillow and closed the hangings with a flick of her wand, then fell asleep still contemplating about why her mom had to die. She didn't understand.

Boys Dormitory

The marauders were getting ready to go to the kitchens to set up for the prank. Remus got out the supplies with Peter, Sirius got out the marauder's map, and James got out his invisibility cloak.

"Padfoot, do you think Lily really hates me that much?" James asked.

"Whoa, where did this come from?"

"I was just thinking and when I look at it, I've never really had a decent conversation with her."

"I told you last year, I think she thinks you're a bit conceited. But I don't think that she hates you."

"Shaina thinks that Lily likes you but is too…stubborn to see it and that she doesn't like to feel the need to need somebody in her life. She's in denial." Remus said.

"You reckon?" James asked.

"Truthfully I don't know Prongs. I don't know her well enough, but I do trust Shaina and her opinion."

"That's because you looove her," Sirius said mockingly.

"No I don't! I just like her…a lot," Sirius eyed Remus suspiciously. "All right! I LOVE her!"

"Ha, I knew it!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Anyways, back to James. I trust Shai, she's rarely wrong when it comes to her friends."

"Yeah, I guess your right." James said. "At least I hope so," he muttered under his breath.

"Huh?" Peter asked.

"Nothing," James lied and then grinned. "Time to go set up


	3. Colors

Boys Dormitory

"James! Remus! Peter! Get up! Come on!" Sirius yelled running around the room. The three boys stifled yawns and slowly got out of bed.

"What time is it Sirius?" yawned James.

"7:15! The charms are set to go off in half an hour, right in the middle of breakfast! And you know I have to eat before a good laugh." Sirius exclaimed.

"Padfoot, you need to eat before everything." James said pulling on a pair of clean jeans and a new shirt laughing lightly.

"True." Sirius nodded and laughed with James.

Ten minutes later they were all dressed and heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Once in the Great Hall they smiled to see almost all the Slytherins eating and drinking. _You'd to think they'd have learned by now_ James thought.

_Ha ha I can't wait to see their faces_ Sirius thought. _Now time for food._

The marauders took their seats close to Lily, Shaina, and Massie. James saw that Lily's eyes were red and puffy. _She must have been crying about her mom last night_ he thought. Then he saw Sirius stuffing his face and began to stuff his own. After 15 minutes of eating Sirius leaned in and whispered to the marauders in a high pitched excited girl voice, "Five more minutes. Eeek!"

"Yes!" the marauders all whispered back.

They waited anxiously for five more minutes, until they heard a loud scream from the Slytherin table. They all turned to look and saw that all the Slytherins were changing colors. Their hair, robes, skin, and eyes all changed color. The majority of them turned blue, purple, pink, or yellow, but the occasional orange, gray, gold, silver, green, and red ones showed up. The marauders and the rest of the Great Hall, except for the Slytherins, burst into a fit of laughter. James and Sirius were so proud of themselves that they stood up on their seats and took a few bows.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Black!" Professor McGonagall's voice roared throughout the hall.

"Yes?" Sirius asked in an innocent tone.

"What did you do?"

"What ever do you mean Professor?" James asked as innocently as possible without laughing.

"You know what I mean Potter! Change them back…NOW!"

"Sorry Professor, no can do." Sirius said.

"What do you mean?"

"It's set to change back to normal in 24 hours, so at exactly 7:45 tomorrow morning they'll all change back to normal." James answered.

"However clever that may be, you two will serve a weeks worth of detention for it." With that Professor McGonagall whisked away to calm down the Slytherins.

"Nice one mates!" Sirius exclaimed as he and James sat back down. They looked up at the staff table where they saw Professor Dumbledore give them a faint, but noticeable smile in which they returned proudly.

Great Hall (Lily and friends)

"How immature." Lily stated when she saw the Slytherins changing colors.

"Im-immature? Th-that's brilliant that i-is!" Shaina and Massie said trying to catch their breath from laughing so hard.

"If you say so, but that's still wicked mean."

"You have to be kidding me Lily! The Slytherins deserve it! Look at how they treat you!" Massie said. "You just don't like it because you don't like the marauders, that's all."

"Not true."

"Yeah it is Lils and you know it." Shaina said.

"Whatever. Lets just finish eating and leave, Professor McGonagall's handing out the schedules now."

Professor McGonagall gave them their schedules and when they saw what classes they had today Shaina and Massie snorted. "Yes!" Massie said. "The only time I'm going to be excited for double potions! We get to see all the NEWT Slytherins and their colors!" Massie laughed and even Lily chuckled a little bit at the thought of their faces.

"Well I suppose seeing all their faces will be funny, but they're gunna be in a really bad mood and so will Professor Haintel." Lily said. "So lets hope that James and Sirius behave themselves in his class."

"Yeah, but we need more than hope for that…we need a miracle."

Entrance Hall

James, Sirius, and Remus were leaving the Great Hall to go to double potions (Peter didn't get into the NEWT potions class). Once in the Entrance Hall they saw Bellatrix Black, Sirius' seventh year cousin, and a few other Slytherins with angry faces. Bellatrix, who was bright orange, yelled, "You two better watch yourselves!" to Sirius and James.

"Well at least we don't look like walking traffic cones." Sirius pointed out with a stifled laugh.

"I repeat you better watch your backs!" Bellatrix sneered as her face turned a deep orange in anger.

"Technically you didn't repeat yourself because you said 'you better watch backs' that time and 'you better watch yourselves' the first time." James said mimicking Bellatrix's words. She turned an even deeper orange and turned to leave cursing under her breath as she left.

Great Hall-Lunch

"I can't believe Professor Haintel took away 25 points from Gryffindor for you not being one of the first ones to open their books." Massie exclaimed furiously.

"I can," James replied. "He's upset because we pulled a silly, harmless prank on his house."

"That still doesn't give him the right to take away points for you not opening your book the second he tells us too!"

"Eh, who cares anyway? Lily will probably get them back in some other class," James said smiling at Lily, who just rolled her eyes in return, but James could have sworn he saw her blush and give a slight grin.

"I do! We got points taken away for nothing and school's barely even started yet!"

"Give it a rest Mass, what's done is done. At least it wasn't more. What I'm mad about is the essay he assigned us." Shaina said.

"Yeah, its brutal," Sirius exclaimed taking a break from stuffing his face with food. "But did you see Snivellus? HILARIOUS! He was blue! HAHAHA!"

"HAHA! Yeah, did you see the glare he was giving us? It looked like he was gunna explode!"

"I bet he was blue about being blue," Sirius said laughing hysterically.

"Oh my god Sirius, that was so horrible it was funny!" Shaina said chuckling a bit.

" I have to agree with Shai on this one here, that's the worst one I've ever heard from you Sirius. It's even worse than the serious-Sirius lines," Remus said with a stifled laugh.

Sirius started laughing harder then said, " You agree w-with anything your Sh-Shaina says!"

Remus blushed furiously, as did Shaina. James punched Sirius hard in the arm. "Ouch, what?" Sirius stopped laughing. James gave him a you-know-what-that-wasn't-funny look.

"So, we have transfiguration and astronomy this afternoon, then we're free for the rest of the night. What do you guys want to do?" Lily asked trying to steer the attention away from Remus and Shaina. It worked.

"You want to hang out with us, Evans?" James asked in a state of shock.

_Just do it for Remus and Shai_ Lily told herself. She swallowed hard and said, "Yep," trying to sound convincing.

"Pinch me Padfoot, I must be dreaming." James said still in his shocked state. Sirius pinched his arm hard.

"Ow Padfoot. I wasn't being serious!"

"I know you weren't. No one could be me!" he said excitedly. The marauders, Lily, Shai, and Mass all groaned, but smiled all the same.

"You know that's really getting old Sirius." Remus said.

"But it still gets you all to smile!" Sirius said grinning from ear to ear. They all smiled and laughed faintly. "See!" They rolled their eyes but continued to smile.

"Yeah, so anyway we should spend some time outside while the weather's still nice, and around 6:30 we can head to dinner. Then after dinner we can head to the common room, because we're not allowed out past dinner. Then we should start on our homework, you know that McGonagall's going to give us some." Lily suggested.

"Yeah, that's sounds good except for the homework part," James said and Lily scowled at him, so he hastily added, "Just kidding."

After they were done eating James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Massie, and Shaina headed towards transfiguration, while Peter went off to Muggle Studies. Once again he didn't get a good enough OWL to get into transfiguration, DADA, or charms NEWT classes, so he wasn't in most of their classes. In transfiguration McGonagall spent the first half of the class talking about NEWT transfiguration, then they went over turning a button into a mouse (they had learned how to do that in third year).

After transfiguration and astronomy, the marauders, Lily, Shaina, and Massie headed towards the lake to hang out.

"It's 4:30, so we have two hours before we have to head to dinner." Remus stated.

They spent the two hours talking about Quidditch, the amount of homework they had, classes, and Sirius wanted to talk about food, so they did reluctantly. Then after dinner they went up to the common room, started their homework, and went to bed around 11 o'clock.


	4. A Night to Remember

**4. A Night to Remember**

The first week of classes flew by without much excitement, except for the usual James and Sirius getting three more detentions added on to their first week in which they'd just finished serving.

"I still don't get what the big deal was, I mean all we did was jinx the Slytherins so that every time someone said 'hi', 'hello', or 'hey' to them they would start tap dancing." Sirius complained about getting reprimanded for a harmless joke, but he didn't care much about the detentions for James and him have a competition to see who can get the most detentions by the end of their seven years at Hogwarts. At the moment Sirius was ahead by one with 256, while James had 255. More than ninety percent of their detentions were served together and because of a prank played on one or all of the Slytherins.

But Sirius and James had other things to worry about at the moment. The full moon was two days away and Remus was looking sicker and paler by the minute. It would be the first full moon of the school year and James and Sirius would be late accompanying Remus the werewolf on account of their detentions. And worse was that Lily and her friends, mainly Shaina, were noticing how sickly and pale Remus was, and they (again, mostly Shaina) were getting worried.

"I hope Remus is okay, I mean he looks awful." Shaina said to Lily and Massie in the library one afternoon. Lily and Massie just nodded in agreement. They knew Shaina really liked Remus and has since fourth year, and were used to her ranting on about Remus, especially when he looked sick. "He's been really pale these past few days and he seems to be a bit more tired than usual. He's not joking and laughing with the marauders as often as normal. I'm just worried that it's something serious, that's all."

"We get it Shai, but this happens often with Remus. Haven't you noticed that before? I know you have, but he always gets over it in about a week and then is back to his normal self. I'm sure he's just fine," Lily reassured Shaina.

"Yeah, your probably right. I just feel like there's more to it than what we see."

"Well try not to think about it too much because you might never know, and you don't want that nagging you all the time."

The rest of the time spent in the library was in silence. Each girl was contemplating with her own thoughts. Shaina was still worrying about Remus, but she decided not to bring the topic up again. Meanwhile Massie was thinking of how cute Sirius looked that day, then contradicting herself with snide remarks about him. And Lily was just trying to concentrate on her transfiguration essay due the next day.

Fifth floor boys bathrooms-James/Sirius' detention

Two days had gone by and it was now eight o'clock on the night of the full moon. Remus was to transform in 20 minutes so Madame Pomprey was leading him to the whomping willow. Meanwhile James and Sirius were finishing cleaning the last of the stalls in the boy's bathrooms on the fifth floor, which was their detention for the second prank on the Slytherins since they'd gotten to Hogwarts.

"Hurry up Prongs, we've got to get a move on if we want to be with Remus just after he transforms!" Sirius hissed at James in a whisper as he put his supplies in the bucket. James finished his last stall in a hurry and put his supplies alongside Sirius' just as Professor McGonagall came in to check on them.

"Done…already?" she said as she checked each stall. Two minutes later she emerged from the last stall and said, "Very well you may go. Be at my office tomorrow at six for your last detention."

"Yeah, ok."

"Whatever."

"Bye."

With that the two boys practically sprinted down the halls, up a couple flights of stairs and into the Gryffindor common room. Once inside they took no time in catching their breath and headed straight for their dorm earning a few side-glances from the small crowd in the common room. Inside their dormitory James quickly grabbed his invisibility cloak and the marauders map and ran back out with Sirius on his tail.

They ran through the common room and out the portrait hole without a word. Once in the hall they ducked behind a tapestry and James pulled out the map. After making sure the coast was clear James wiped the map clean and pulled the cloak over Sirius and himself, and they scurried down the several flights of stairs, avoiding the trick step, and out the doors of the castle heading towards the whomping willow.

On their way they passed Madame Pomprey carefully avoiding bumping into her in their rush. Outside the entrance in the whomping willow Sirius transformed into a huge black dog, moved his way from under the cloak, and strategically maneuvered his way over to the knot in the tree and pressed it. The whomping willow froze instantly in midair to allow James and Sirius entry to its tunnel. Sirius ducked back under the cloak and transformed back into human form and walked with James through the familiar darkened tunnel.

Girls dormitory

Lily watched out her window interestedly while the others got ready for bed. She saw as Madame Pomprey escorted Remus to the Whomping Willow. She watched as the nursed waved her wand and a long rope came shooting out and pressed on something Lily couldn't see and was amazed when the willow stopped thrashing about. Madame Pomprey and Remus walked into the willow and down a tunnel, but not before the nurse presses on the same thing as before and the willow starts moving again.

_What was that all about?_ Lily thought. _Why are Madame Pomprey and Remus going down a tunnel through the Whomping Willow? Since when has there been a tunnel in the Whomping Willow? What stopped the trees movements all of a sudden? _Lily was puzzled. She couldn't find an answer to any of her questions or even come close to a solution.

Five minutes later Lily saw Madame Pomprey emerge from the tunnel and press the knot again, stopping the willow's movements once more. As she safely got out of the path of the deadly swaying branches, (that were at a pause just then) she flicked her wand, causing the rope to once again press the knot and the branches moved again.

"Lily, what are you looking at?" Shaina asked peering over Lily's shoulder out the window.

"Nothing, just thinking."

"Okay. Well I'll leave you to think."

It was just as Shaina said those words that Lily saw a mysterious black dog appear out of nowhere and dodge it's way over to the knot to press it. Then after the Whomping Willow stopped in midair she saw the dog disappear again after pressing the knot once more. It was seemingly pointless for the dog to press the knot after it had already made its way around the swaying branches. Little did Lily know that the reason behind the dog's tactics was that a certain boy waited to be able to move to the tunnel under an invisibility cloak.

_Okay this is getting really odd now_ Lily pondered the reasons behind all of it. In the end she decided she would sleep on it and wake early in the morning to think over it some more and to see if Remus exits the willow.

The Shrieking Shack

James and Sirius climbed the last few steps to see Peter in rat form and Remus inside a room. Remus was howling in pain as he transformed into his werewolf form. Quickly James and Sirius changed into their own animagus forms and entered the room cautiously. At first the werewolf lunged at the three animal forms, but after a quick sniff he recognized them, as one's who are with him every transformation. Though he didn't know who they really were, or who he really was for that matter, Remus the werewolf sensed they weren't going to harm him.

After a half hour of being cooped up in the small room inside the shrieking shack they three animagus' and the werewolf made their way out, through the tunnel, and into the forbidden forest.

Inside the forest the four of them played freely while keeping watch on their surroundings. An hour after leaving the shack and entering the forest Remus the werewolf caught scent of a couple of students roaming the grounds.

The werewolf became suddenly alert and charged toward the scent. Sirius the dog and James the stag, with Peter the rat on his back, quickly sprinted after the werewolf. Cutting the werewolf off halfway to it's destination Sirius and James in animagus form tackled it to the ground. Meanwhile a few meters away the mischief-makers that were outside after hours saw what happened and immediately ran off to the safe guards of the castle walls.

After earning some deep battle wounds the werewolf settled down as the human scent disappeared. The dog and stag limped back to the Whomping Willow with the rat and werewolf. The rat snuck up to the knot, pressed it, and the rest made their way down the tunnel with the rat not long behind.

Gryffindor Common Room

Lily walked down the stairs to the common room just before sunrise and sat down in a chair beside the fireplace. She was about to doze off when she remembered last night, so she pulled the chair over to the window to see if her suspicions were true. Ten minutes after she pulled the chair over she saw Madame Pomprey go out to the Whomping Willow once more. She did the same thing as she did last time, waved her wand and a rope flew out and pressed the knot to stop the swaying branches. Then she went down the tunnel and came back out with Remus 5 minutes later.

Wow Remus looks horrible. But why was he in that tunnel all night anyway? I mean what reason does he have to be in there? Unless…

Just as Lily thought she had her answers James, Sirius, and Peter walked in looking horrible, but not nearly as bad as Remus. They were laughing about something. Lily turned around and caught their eyes.

"What are you doing up at this hour?" Sirius asked Lily.

"I could ask you the same thing." Lily retorted.

"We were just setting up a prank what else?" Sirius lied.

"Oh really? Then why do you look so cut up?"

"Well the prank required a lot of…"

"Dirty work." James finished Sirius' sentence for him.

"Mmhmm, sure. Well I'm going to bed and if I find out that you guys set up a prank that could harm people I'll report it to Professor McGonagall." With that Lily got up and climbed up the stairs to her dormitory.

Once Lily was out of earshot Sirius turned around to face the other two. "Do you think she knows something? Do you think that she figured out Remus' secret and on top of that ours?"

"I don't know mate, but I do know that she knows more than she's leading on." James answered.

"We'd better get up to our dorm and clean ourselves up before anyone else comes down, then we can go visit Remus." Peter said. The boys went up to their dorm, then cleaned themselves up and fell asleep for an hour.

Hospital Wing

James, Sirius, and Peter told Remus about their encounter with Lily and their suspicions about what she knows.

"Oh god, I hope that she doesn't know anything. If she does, I don't know what I'm gunna do."

"Don't worry mate. I'm sure that if she knows something she'll confront you before she assumes anything, then you can tell her that you didn't tell her, Massie, or Shaina because you didn't want them to think differently of you. Besides Lily's not the type to turn away from you just because you have a monthly visit. As much as it pains me to say, you're the only one out of us that Lily can stand." James reassured Remus.

"I hope you're right."

"He is, don't worry too much." Sirius said.


	5. Suspicions to Truths

**5: Suspicions to Truths**

The next morning, Monday morning, Remus was released from the Hospital Wing with only a few scratches still visible. Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast. Remus was looking extra nervous on account of Lily probably knowing of his condition. _Oh god, I really hope she doesn't know. It's going to be torture tonight during our rounds. I won't be able to look her in the eye. Damn it why does it have to be me? Why did I have to get bit? Argh._

The four of them made their way towards the Gryffindor table. As they entered a certain someone looked up from their conversation with their friends and kept a close watch on them as they sat down in the middle of the table.

Lily Evans just sat there and stared at the four marauders.

"You guys, I can feel her staring. It's making me really nervous." Remus said.

"Relax Moony. It's gunna be just fine, ignore her and pretend like nothings wrong. If you don't then she'll just keep staring and start to suspect more." James told Remus.

Remus took a deep breath and said, "Okay, then you and Sirius need to start stuffing your faces like you always do if you want to make it seem like nothings wrong."

The other three laughed and started to dig in, while Remus just took a couple pieces of bacon, some eggs, and 2 pieces of toast.

"So Moony you excited for today's lessons?" Sirius asked after he swallowed a particularly large piece of sausage.

"Oh yeah, double potions, transfiguration, and astronomy. What fun." Remus replied sarcastically.

"Hey well look on the bright side, at least we have one good class on Mondays." James said. Everyone else knew that by one good class he meant transfiguration. That class was a specialty of James, Sirius, and Remus' alongside Defense Against the Dark Arts. They all nodded their heads in agreement save Peter because he wasn't in two of those three classes with them. "Well anyway, we'd better get going. Don't want to be late for Haintel. He'll have our heads."

Breakfast-Lily and Co.

Lily looked up from her conversation with Shaina and Massie in time to see the marauders enter the Hall for breakfast. Her eyes followed them to their seats and stayed there for a good five minutes. _Wow, Remus doesn't look too good. But everything seems to be normal. There can only be one explanation to what went on the other night. But how come Remus hasn't told me yet…well duh! Of course he didn't. I wouldn't go about telling people that about me, if I were him._

"…Lily? Um, earth to Lily! Are you in a world of your own or what?" Shaina waved her hand in front of Lily's face to get her attention.

"…Huh? Oh right, sorry."

"Um, yeah. So why were your eyes glued on the marauders? Huh? Usually it's Shaina who has their focus towards them, well at least one of them." Massie said.

"Hey, I resent that! I don't usually have my attention towards them, just…sometimes."

"Sure, whatever. So…Lily got your eyes on a certain someone? Shall we call him James Potter?"

"Eww no way! God Mass, how could you even think that!"

"Then why have you been looking over there for the past five minutes?"

"Yeah, there has to be a reason Lils." Shai added.

"There isn't I was just thinking and…that just happened to be where my head was facing." Lily finished lamely.

"Riiiiight. Whatever you say Lily."

"It's the truth! I was just thinking!" Lily half-lied. In truth she was thinking but she was thinking about Remus and the reason he was where he was the other night, so that caused her attention to migrate over to where the marauders sat. "Come on we have to get to potions."

Dungeons-Potions class

"Class, on the board is the instructions for the potion you will be making this class, the Healing Solution, it will heal minor wounds. Also there is a list of pairs you will be in for the remainder of the day."

On the board:

**Lily Evans and Lucius Malfoy**

**Massie Calyn and Rudolphus Lestrange**

**Shaina Ryans and Severus Snape**

**Alice Bray and Jeffery Nocktray**

**James Potter and Bellatrix Black**

**Sirius Black and Yaklin Bulstrode **_(don't ask I just put some letters together for the first name)_

Remus Lupin and Narcissa Black 

**Frank Longbottom and Jerissa Tralisky**

"Oh my god! I think I'm gunna puke!" Lily exclaimed.

"Me too!" Massie gagged.

"Ugh, me three!" Shaina added.

"This is so unfair, I swear they do this to us on purpose! They like to make our lives difficult!"

"No duh, especially when our potions master is head of Slytherin house."

"Damn, I don't think I'll be able to handle being paired up with that git." Shaina said. "He's a total dumb arse! All he's gunna do is drool over me its so wrong!"

"Yeah well at least you won't have to survive a whole double period with Malfoy calling you a mudblood every two seconds."

"Oh my god, Lily I'm so sorry that you have to go through that." Shai said.

"Yeah well no matter who I got paired up with that would have happened. All the Slytherins call me that. It's like their favorite pastime. But I don't let it bother me. I'll just ignore it."

"Good for you Lily. Don't let what they say affect you." Alice entered the conversation.

"Ah, Alice! I haven't seen you since we came back to Hogwarts!" Lily squealed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I've been spending a lot of time with Frank and once I get up to our dormitory you guys are already asleep."

"Its okay, so you and Frank still going strong?" Massie asked.

"Yeah, and thanks for asking."

"No problem, but you've got to hang out with us more often. Remember last year before you and Frank got together, we were all like inseparable."

"God, I know and I promise to make for time for my three best friends."

Alice was the fourth and final member of their group of friends. She had long blonde hair that curled out at the ends and had a light tan. She was always spunky and never down. She knew just how to cheer everyone up…always.

Over by the Marauders… 

"Eww! I got paired up with that fat hippogriff!" Sirius exclaimed loudly.

"Hey, well at least you didn't get paired up with one of your cousins like Remus and I!"

"Yeah, but Haintel knows that if he puts me and one of my dear old cousins together someone would be stuck in the hospital wing for a couple of weeks, and it would most likely have been one of them."

"You got that right Padfoot." Remus said.

"Hey you guys!" Frank said to the three marauders.

"Hey, how've you been lately? I hear that you and Alice are doing pretty good these days." Remus greeted Frank friendly.

"I've been good and yeah me and Alice are doing really well. Did you see who are partners are! Eww."

"Urgh, yes! So not fair!" Sirius exclaimed.

"We'd better go get with our partners and start guys. If we don't Haintel will get mad." James said. The rest mumbled their agreement, as they didn't like who they were paired up with.

The marauders generally liked Frank. They were all friends, but they were never really best friends with him. Everyone was okay with that though. They all got along and hung out together a lot, but they just never really clicked as being best friends with him.

Double Potions went as was expected. Sirius and James both got into a fight with their partners and both them and their partners received a week's detention for it. James got an additional two detentions for picking a fight with Malfoy, because of course Malfoy had to call Lily a mudblood. Lily got upset at James and said that she could handle it herself and that she didn't need his help. That had hurt James but he pretended that it didn't by using his talent of asking her out at the worst times possible. She of course declined.

Lunch

Lily, Shaina, and Massie sat down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall for lunch that afternoon and much to Lily and Massie's dislike the marauders situated themselves next to them. Sirius sat down on the right side of Massie (Lily was to her left), James sat down on Lily's left, and Remus and Peter sat down on either side of Shaina.

"Hey Mass! How are you doing this fine afternoon?" Sirius asked.

"I was doing just great until you came along."

"Ah come on. I'm not that bad…am I?"

"Well lets see…you're annoying as hell, you've used like every girl in this school for your own pleasure, you're conceited, you'r…"

"Ok, I get the picture," Sirius cut Massie off. "But once you look past all that stuff I'm not really that bad. Besides I haven't used a girl yet this year."

"Black, it hasn't even been two full weeks yet. Give it time, you know you will."

"I swear I won't use another girl if you'll just be my friend." Sirius gave his puppy dog eyes.

"Uh let me think about that…no. You have to prove to me first that you can be a good friend and not be mean to other people except Slytherins. They're fine to annoy and be mean to."

"Deal. I'll prove to you that I'm a good person."

Meanwhile…

"Hey Lily. Listen, I'm sorry that I started a fight with Malfoy because he called you a you-know-what."

"Whatever Potter…I guess I overreacted. I mean you were only trying to be nice."

"Exactly. And I'm sorry that I asked you out…again. I just…I don't know. I really like you and I just wish you would give me a chance, you know? But I'd be happy if we could be friends." James looked into Lily's beautiful emerald eyes. "So, how about it? Friends?"

"Hmm…sure, but under two conditions."

"Sure, name it."

"You have to stop asking me out and hexing people all the time."

"Even Snivellus?"

"Nah, but only every once in a while. NOT everyday."

"Okay, deal."

Meanwhile (again)…

"Hey Remus. What's up?" Shaina asked.

"Nothing much. You?"

"Nothing. Um…how've you been?"

"Pretty good, you?"

"Good. Um…can I ask you something?"

"Uh, sure."

"How come you've been so pale these last couple of days? You seem to get sick pretty often."

"Oh…uh…yeah I have a weak immune system. I get sick pretty easily." Remus lied. He didn't want to lie, but he couldn't just tell her that he was a werewolf right in the middle of lunch. He wants to tell her, but he just can't. Not yet anyway.

"Oh, okay. I just guess I've always wondered that."

"Its okay. Curiosity is natural."

"Ha…yeah I guess it is."

Everyone spent the rest of lunch talking, laughing, and joking about some stupid comments that Peter made during their conversations. Deep down inside Peter hated how they always made fun of him, but he never really thought too much about it. He figured that they were just joking around, having some fun. In fact what he figured was the truth, but later on he'd start to think otherwise.

Lily and Remus-Prefect Patrolling

The first half an hour of Lily and Remus' patrol was spent in silence. Remus was still worried that Lily would reject him now that she probably knew his secret. Lily was thinking of how to bring up the subject of Remus' werewolf 'problem' and decided just to bring it up abruptly.

"Remus?"

"Yeah?" Remus answered nervously, afraid of what she wanted.

"I know."

"You know what?" Remus acted dumb, but he knew perfectly well what she meant.

"I know about you being a…a…werewolf."

Before Remus could say anything Lily continued to talk. "And I just wanted to let that I'm okay with it. I know it's not your fault that you were…well…bitten. And I can understand why you haven't told anyone. Heck, I wouldn't have, had I been in your position." Lily turned to look Remus in the eye. She couldn't decipher all the emotions in his eyes, but she could see one…guilt.

"I'm s-sorry Lily. I would've told you, but I just didn't want to lose your friendship. It's very important to me."

"Thank you. I'm glad that our friendship means something to you. And I understand that you didn't tell me because you were afraid of rejection. You don't have to be sorry, but you do know that you will need to tell Shaina before you two become…closer. I know you like her and that she likes you."

"I know, but I just don't want her to be afraid of me or pity me. I don't want mess anything that might or might not happen up."

"I understand, but if something does happen…you will have to tell her."

"I know."


	6. A New Beginning

**6: A New Beginning**

The rest of September flew by without many new happenings. There were a few deaths in the families of students here and there caused by the rise of Lord Voldemort. Also, Sirius kept closely to his deal with Massie. He only hexed the Slytherins and hasn't made one move on a single girl in school. Massie was actually growing to like the new Sirius, not that she would admit it. But of course Lily and Shaina could tell. They knew her better than she thought.

October came quickly and before anyone knew it, it was a week before Halloween. Sirius was still keeping up with his deal and seemed to be doing so with ease, even with the large group over girls fawning over him every second of the day. Lily and James came to be pretty good friends, but not as close as the girls or the marauders were. Shaina and Remus were still shy around each other, but were steadily getting used to being around each other and talking to one another.

Gryffindor Common Room

Sirius was sitting in the common room at two in the morning talking to himself, not meaning to, but so much in thought that he ended up saying half of it out loud.

"…I don't get it…two months almost…kept to it…" Sirius thought out loud. He was sitting in his favorite armchair by the fire.

"You know that talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity," someone said from behind Sirius.

"…Huh? Who-…" Sirius turned around to see who it was. The voice sounded so familiar, so beautiful, so like…Massie. "Oh, hey. Didn't notice you there."

"Hey, didn't expect you to. You seem to be thinking pretty hard and that's a shocker for someone who doesn't seem to have much up there." Massie joked and pointed to her head.

"Oh, thanks." Sirius said sarcastically. He knew she was only kidding…at least he hoped.

"Ha…so why are you up so…um…early?"

"Couldn't sleep so I came down here to think. It's hard to do that in my dorm what with Peter and James' snoring so loudly." Massie chuckled and smiled. Sirius' stomach did a flip-flop, it was such a good feeling to see her smile, let alone be the reason for it.

"You know, you're really pretty when you smile." Sirius mentally slapped himself for saying that out loud. Massie laughed nervously and blushed.

"Thanks," was all she could come up with to say.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable or anything. I didn't even mean to say that out loud."

"No, it's okay. I just…"

"You just…what?"

"Um…well…"

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I was just curious."

"Its okay, I'll tell you." Sirius was grateful that she was gunna tell him. He knew that if he didn't know what she was gunna say he would always wonder what it was. "I was just going to say that…I'm just not used to hearing that especially from…you."

Massie couldn't understand what was wrong with her. She was never shy, she was never nervous, and never thought she'd be like that for the first time around none other than the Sirius Black that she had hated since, well, since forever. She was always outgoing, loud, and outspoken. But for some reason she couldn't find anything to say and felt like an idiot. Sirius Black is making her nervous…why? She couldn't possibly…nah. That can't be it, but what else could explain it. It had to be true, but this just couldn't be true. Not for Massie.

"Oh…well, sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"No. You didn't, its fine. Um…I was wondering…well…you seemed to do a pretty good job with that deal that we made a month and a half ago, you remember?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Well, I think you've done a pretty good job of proving to me that you can be a good friend and well I was wondering if…if we could start over. You know…as friends?"

"Yeah, sure. Friends." Sirius took Massie's hand and shook it. An electric shock ran through both Massie and Sirius. They took their hands away quickly and looked away from one another so the other couldn't see their blush. (I don't know if that made any sense, but whatever. Sorry if it confused you.). There was silence amongst the two as they skillfully avoided each others gaze. After what seemed like hours, but in reality was two minutes, Sirius broke the silence.

"Well I'm gunna go up to bed. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." He said tentatively.

"Yeah, good night."

"'Night."

Breakfast

Sirius sat down next to Massie and breakfast the next day. A slight, but noticeable smile came across Massie's face. As soon as she noticed the smile Massie wiped it away, but not before Shaina caught a glimpse of it. She shared a knowing look with Lily quickly then turned her attention back to Massie and Sirius barely noticing Remus sit next to her.

"So Massie anything happen last night that we should know about?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Because Sirius just sat down next to you and not only did you not snap at him, but I saw that smile."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't smile." Massie blushed. "But I didn't snap at him because last night we agreed to be friends. You remember the deal I made with him a month and a half ago?"

"Yeah of course."

"Well he kept it pretty well. Actually he did phenomenal, so last night we decided to become friends."

"I see." Shaina exchanged another glance with Lily who was talking to James, but heard the whole conversation.

Lily turned her attention back to James after her glance at Shaina. "So when are you having Quidditch tryouts? I heard you got captain."

"Well probably the first week of November. The first match is the last weekend and I want to get in some practice beforehand."

"I see. Well good luck with that. I'll probably watch tryouts as Shaina, you, and Sirius are on the team."

"Cool. You can see my amazing Quidditch skills." James said jokingly with a wink. Lily punched him in the shoulder playfully.

"Oh shut up."

"What can I say? I mean I just got the talent." Lily rolled her eyes.

Remus and Sirius were having a side conversation.

"…Yeah so like I said, Peter's got himself a girlfriend. She's ugly, but I mean she's nice I guess."

"No way. I can't believe it! What house is she in?" Sirius asked in a hushed voice.

"Hufflepuff. Look over there," Remus pointed to one end of the Hufflepuff table. "He's sitting with her. That's why he's not sitting with us."

"Well good for him. It's about time he got a girlfriend. As for you now, when are you going to ask Shai out?"

"I'm not going to. At least not now, not until I get the guts to tell her."

"Well do it soon, you know there's supposed to be a masquerade ball just before Christmas. You should ask her."

"I don't know…I don't think I'm brave enough to tell her yet, and I'm not going to ask her out until I do."

"Whatever you say mate, but you better do it soon."

"I will…I will." Remus muttered to himself.

Over the next week Sirius and Massie became really good friends. They even went to the Hogsmeade trip on Halloween. Both of them enjoy each other's company. Sirius is having a hard time dealing with his emotions towards Massie though. He really likes her…a lot, but he doesn't want to ruin the friendship that just formed. It was too early to mention anything.

Massie was dealing with problems of her own. She couldn't figure herself out. She didn't know if she liked Sirius or not. Every time she sees him smile, she smiles. Every time he puts on his goofy grin or says something cocky she rolls her eyes, but smiles or laughs all the same. Then whenever he compliments her she starts to blush madly. That was a crush…right? Or maybe even more. But she wouldn't let herself believe that, after all he is Sirius Black.

Remus and Shaina hung out more and more, but they were just friends. They, like Sirius and Massie, went on the Hogsmeade trip together along with James and Lily. Remus still hadn't gotten enough courage to tell Shaina his secret, but he was getting close. He wants to tell her before December arrives. He really likes her a lot, but as always he's afraid of the rejection.

Shaina is glad that she and Remus are getting closer, but she has a feeling that he's hiding something from her. She doesn't understand why he won't tell her what's wrong. She's liked him since fifth or fourth year, she couldn't remember exactly when. The whole school knows…surely Remus must know too. Shaina just wants to be with Remus, but she thinks that as their friendship grows so will their feelings for each other and they'll eventually be together…in time.

Lily and James' friendship has grown the past weeks. They like being friends. But of course James can't help but want more. James has wanted to be with Lily since forever. He has hopes though. He hopes that as their friendship lasts Lily will start to see a new side of him, the side that's not an arrogant bullying toe-rag, the side that's sweet, funny, and loyal.

In fact Lily has seen his new side or at least has started to. She can't help but wonder how she pushed that side of him to the back of her mind and not see it. Lily now wishes that she became friends with him sooner. He is such a good friend she wondered how she survived all these years without it. She even feels guilty for how she treated him all those years and apologized over and over again for it.


	7. Quidditch Tryouts

**7. Quidditch Tryouts**

The last week of October flew by. Halloween was pretty uneventful except for a few exploding pumpkins by the Slytherins courtesy of the marauders…of course. With the first weekend of November approaching so were Quidditch tryouts. James, as Quidditch captain, posted a bulletin for tryouts on the morning of November 1st. It read:

**Attention: Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts **

**When: Saturday November 7th- noon**

**Where: Quidditch pitch**

**Needed: A beater and 2 chasers**

**Already on the team:**

**James Potter (captain)-Chaser**

**Sirius Black-Beater**

**Shaina Ryans-Seeker**

**Frank Longbottom-Keeper**

**We encourage everyone who wishes to play to tryout. See you there and Good Luck!**

Lily, Massie, Shaina, Alice, Frank, and the marauders looked at the sign as James posted it.

"Well good luck with tryouts you guys," Massie said to Shaina, James, Sirius, and Frank.

"Why thank you Milady." Sirius bowed.

"Oh cut it out Sirius. You're making me blush." Massie waved her hand in front of her face jokingly, but didn't need to pretend to blush. Sirius was really starting to grow on her even though it's only been a couple of weeks since they started being friends.

"Okay you guys enough flirting already, it's time to head down to breakfast." James said causing both Massie and Sirius to blush and Lily to smack him on the back of the head.

The nine of them headed down to breakfast in a comfortable silence only to be disrupted by a large gang of seventh and sixth year Slytherins. Among them were Bellatrix Black, Lucius Malfoy, Severus Snape, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, Regulus Black, Narcissa Black, Rudolphus Lestrange, and Yaklin Bulstrode. The Gryffindors were outnumbered nine to ten, but when it came down to skill they knew they had the upper hand for the most part.

"Well, well, well if it isn't my blood traitor cousin Sirius," Bellatrix sneered.

"Well if it isn't my lovely orange cousin Bella. Tell me how was it to spend the day orange, I never had the chance to ask." Sirius retorted grinning mockingly at her. In turn Bellatrix glared and if looks could kill Sirius would have died, gone to Heaven, come back, and died again.

With Bella's temper rising quickly the Gryffindors and Slytherins both sensed it was time to draw their wands. There was no way out of this situation without a very large duel. Now ten wands were all pointing at the Gryffindors and in turn nine were pointing at the Slytherins.

"Looks like your outnumbered my dear Sirius," Bella said with a smug smile.

"That may be, but when it comes to talent…well lets just say," Sirius said looking at all the Slytherins before him. "We've got better deal."

That comment sent Bellatrix's anger out the window replaced by pure and utter fury, along with all the other Slytherins. Bella shot the first spell. "Crucio!" (She never was good at controlling her temper now was she…naughty, naughty girl.)

The spell missed as Sirius sensed what was coming and ducked. It hit the wall behind him causing some of the wall to blast off. If a teacher hadn't heard the confrontation they certainly did now. Sirius got up quickly and joined in the duel that had started that the second the sound 'cr…' was heard. James had managed to stun Goyle just before being hit by the jelly-legs curse. Lily had shot the bat bogey hex at Malfoy just after he hit James. She then turned to duel with Narcissa Malfoy who had now targeted Lily after stunning Alice.

"Furnunculus!" Narcissa shouted at Lily.

"Protego!" The spell ricocheted away from Lily as she shouted back. "Petrificus Totalus!"

Narcissa ducked and the spell ended up hitting Nott on the side and he fell.

Around them Sirius was busy dueling Bella, Remus was against Malfoy, Frank was fighting Snape, Massie was dueling with Lestrange, Shaina put the full body bind on Crabbe, Peter was on the ground stunned as well as Alice, James had gotten out of the jelly legs jinx, and Goyle was still stunned alongside the full body binded Nott. Regulus and Yaklin started to advance on James and James immediately shot 'stupefy' at Yaklin getting rid of her, and then started dueling with Regulus.

As the battle continued with intensified anger in Bella as Sirius taunted and mocked her, a group of teachers came storming down the hall.

Professor McGonagall in the lead with Professors Haintel, Frasch (herbology teacher), Loudtre (Astronomy), and Flickwick in tow.

"WHAT IN MERLINS NAME IS GOING ON HERE!" McGonagall shouted. Everyone stopped dueling and turned to see the fuming professors coming their way.

You could really see the extent of the damage. The wall behind Sirius was completely destroyed with bits of stone shattered around him and the others. There were suits of armor knocked over onto the floor. The portraits and paintings were empty, the owners having fled the scene not wanting to get destroyed as well. The dust and soot that had filled the air during the battle was now scattered about the floor making it look extremely dirty. All in all it looked like a heard of stampeding hippogriffs had just gone through the hall.

"LOOK AT THIS! WHAT WERE YOU ALL THINKING? THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR DUELING. AND THIS? SEVENTEEN STUDENTS…SEVENTEEN!" Professor McGonagall shouted at the top of her lungs. "TWO MONTHS DETENTION FOR EVERYONE AND ONE HUNDRED POINTS FROM BOTH SLYTHERIN AND GRYFFINDOR. IN ALL MY YEARS! Professor Dumbledore will hear of this and be thankful that you are all not expelled for this OUTRAGIOUS outburst of violence. NOW TIME TO EXPLAIN YOURSELVES!"

"Well you see professor we," James started gesturing at all the Gryffindors, "were walking down to breakfast together when…" Professor Haintel cut him off.

"We don't have time to hear your lie right now. Lets just get the injured to the Hospital Wing and the rest to class."

"Alright. You all will serve your first detention tonight from eight to midnight cleaning up this mess you have made. No magic." McGonagall said sternly.

Alice, James, Peter, Massie, Frank, Snape, Goyle, Crabbe, Nott, Narcissa, Regulus, and Malfoy all followed Professors Haintel and Flickwick to the Hospital Wing to get fixed up. All the while Professor McGonagall went to tell Dumbledore of the fight and the rest followed Professors Frasch and Loudtre to breakfast.

Breakfast-Shaina, Lily, Remus, and Sirius

"Oh just wonderful, we get to have detention for the next two months with the Slytherins. Luckily we won't get the same detentions for the most part. But tonight is going to be awful." Shaina said.

"Tell me about, four more lovely hours with my sweet cousins Bella and Narcissa. Plus some brotherly time with dear Regulus and don't forget Malfoy and Snivellus." Sirius said sarcastically.

"Urgh, great more time to be called a you know what. It's bad enough in potions." Lily said.

"Don't worry Lily we won't let him say a word to you. James especially." Remus said.

"Good because if he calls me it one more time he's going to find that he won't be able to reproduce."

"Ouch. Just thinking about that is disturbingly painful, but Merlin knows he deserves it." Sirius said. They all laughed awkwardly.

Hospital Wing-James, Frank, Alice, Massie, and Peter

"Well that was interesting." James said. He had a few minor cuts and a headache but nothing serious. Peter was still stunned, as Madame Pomprey hadn't gotten to him yet. Massie had a large gash on her left arm. Alice was recovering from being unconscious and being hit with one of the boulders blasted off the wall from the cruciatus curse. Lastly Frank, like James had a few minor cuts and bruises that could be healed easily. "Did you see Madame Pomprey's face when so many people came into the Hospital at once? Hilarious!" They all laughed silently.

"That was so close. Sirius almost got hit with that curse. It would of scared the bloody hell out of me." Massie said.

"Well it didn't so no harm done."

"Well at least not to us Gryffindors. Looks like there are more Slytherins here than us." Frank exclaimed.

"What can we say? Us Gryffindors have skill." James said.

"Ha ha…well I'm just glad that everyone's all right." Alice said groaning from her massive headache.

"Yeah well now we have to spend two months in detention and another four hours today cleaning the mess without wands with the Slytherins!" James said.

"Ugh, this is going to be a nightmare." Massie said.

Detention-Everyone that was at the battle

"This is all your fault!" Bella yelled at her cousin Sirius.

"My fault! You have to be kidding me! Who was the first one to say something? You!"

"You could have ignored it, but NO you had to say something to annoy me back!"

"Well it's your fault that you're so easily annoyed."

"If I had my wand…"

"If you had your wand, then I would have mine and we wouldn't be cleaning this up we'd be making the mess bigger. Now shut up and just work."

Bellatrix glared at her cousin, but decided that this once she would let it go because she knew that he could easily win in a fistfight. She would get him back, but in a more subtle way.

Luckily the rest of the detention went by without another outburst and no calling Lily a mudblood.

Quidditch Pitch-Gryffindor Tryouts

The rest of the week went by and finally the Quidditch tryouts were upon them. Fifteen had showed up all together. Ten were trying out for chaser and five were trying out for beater. Lily, Remus, Massie, Peter, and Alice decided to sit in the stands and watch the tryouts.

"Okay everyone your going to fly around the pitch three times so we can see how well you all fly." James instructed the fifteen who were trying out. They all mounted their brooms and started to fly around the pitch.

"That fifth year Analese Harity looks like she'd make a pretty good chaser. Along with Diana Taint the seventh year." Shaina pointed out.

"Yeah and Randy Grant looks like he'd have the skills to be a good beater, but we still have to see how well they actually do the positions." James said.

After another minute the kids trying out flew back down and landed next to the four already on the team.

"Okay, now Sirius and Shai are going to take the beaters and have them take turns aiming bludgers at the chasers while Frank and I take the chasers and go through some moves with them and see how they do passing and scoring while trying to avoid the bludgers. Everyone got it?" James explained. They all nodded their heads and split up into their separate groups.

After two hours of tryouts the team and fifteen kids trying out landed and James said, "Okay well great job everyone! I'll post who made the team in two days. Until then have fun, relax, and hang out with your friends. Tryouts are officially over!" With that everyone left to the changing rooms except for the four on the team as their friends were leaving the stands and heading towards them.

"Great tryouts you guys!" Lily said.

"Thanks. I think that we'll have a pretty good team this year." James said.

"Not that we don't every year." Sirius added.

"Right." Massie said. "Confident aren't we?"

"You bet!" Frank, Shai, Sirius, and James said in unison. The rest laughed.


	8. The New Professor

**8. The New Professor**

The marauders, Lily, Shaina, and Massie were sitting in the common room gathered around the fire doing their potions essays on veritaserum, save Peter as he wasn't in that class so he was working on an essay for Muggle Studies. It was a rather difficult potion. They have been brewing it for the past week and are to finish it tomorrows potion's class. The essay was two feet and was on how to brew veritaserum and what can happen if it is brewed wrong. Lily had found some of the side affects of an incorrectly brewed veritaserum interesting. Massie had the a book in front of her called "The Side Effects of Poorly Made Potions" by Jared Ginaes.

"Hey you guys look at this. We could put this in our essays," Massie informed the others, then read a passage from the book she was reading:

You must be very careful when brewing the veritaserum potion. Also know as the truth serum. If brewed correctly the drinker is forced to tell the truth to whomever asks them a question. Three drops will usually last an hour. But if the potion is brewed incorrectly many things can happen. There are some instances in which the person will just be able to lie straight to the person interrogating them's face, but that only happens in very rare cases. In most cases the person who drinks the serum gets mysterious bumps all over their skin around their face and throat. There have also been some severe cases in which the person's throat will lock up rendering the person unable to breathe. In those cases it is extremely important to get the person straight to a hospital or they will suffocate within minutes. So it is important to remember that the potion should be perfectly clear, because if not it was brewed incorrectly.

"That's kind of scary. I mean not being able to breathe for who knows how long. Merlin I would be freaked." Lily stated.

"Wouldn't we all Lils…wouldn't we all," Shaina agreed and the rest nodded their heads.

They seven of them spent the rest of the day finishing their homework as it was Sunday and classes were to start up again the next day. At around five in the afternoon James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily had finished all their homework and left the group at the floor. James and Sirius started up a wizard's chess tournament while Lily and Remus watched until someone one so another could play the winner. A half hour later James and Remus were finishing up their game, it was hard to tell who was going to win as they were pretty even. By that time the rest of the group had joined them and Sirius was out of the tournament for James won their game.

Remus' queen took James' last knight, then James surprised Remus by taking his queen with his rook. Five minutes later James had defeated Remus and it was Lily's turn to play. Lily surprised everyone by almost beating James, but James had sneakily found a way out of a corner and came back to win it. It was then Shaina's turn to play. It was a neck and neck game until Shaina beat James in the end.

"HA! Finally someone took James down! You are a saint Shai!" Sirius said playfully. Shaina just rolled her eyes and smiled at him.

Shaina quickly beat Peter and moved on to Massie. Remus, and Lily were on Shaina's cheering side and James and Peter were on Massie's. Sirius stayed mutual and cheered for both on account of liking Massie, routing for Shai because she took James down, and to keep the cheering sections equal. By seven thirty Shaina beat Massie in a tough match and they all headed down to a late dinner. They had a half hour to each due to the new early curfew of eight o'clock. After dinner the group went back up to the common room and stayed up talking about the chess tournament they had, about how much they hated the teachers for ruining their Sunday with homework, and none other than quidditch. Around a quarter to midnight Lily suggested they get to bed as they had transfiguration, then double potions the next day.

Breakfast-Everyone

The next day at breakfast Lily looked up at the staff table. In Professor Haintel's spot was a rather large man. He looked to be in about his mid-forties. He had a smile on his face and looked like a nice man.

"Hey you guys," Lily said to the others. "Look." She pointed to the large man in Professor Haintel's seat.

"I wonder who that is," Shaina thought out loud.

"Well I suppose we're about to find out," Remus said as Professor Dumbledore got up to address the hall.

"Students I am sure you are all wondering why Professor Haintel is not here. The reasons for which I cannot divulge, but I would like you all to welcome Professor H. Slughorn who has generously given us his time for the remainder of the school year to teach Potions." Slughorn stood as Dumbledore said this and the Great Hall applauded politely.

"He has also accepted to be the Head of Slytherin House," Dumbledore continued. "That is all for now, continue eating your wonderful breakfast."

The Great Hall was silent for a moment as they registered everything. Then all of a sudden, as if planned, the whole hall started talking in rushed whispers.

"That's odd. What do you suppose happened?" Massie asked everyone else.

"I don't know nor do I care. The worst teacher is now gone, life is good," Sirius exclaimed and then went back to stuffing his face with food.

"Oh-k then. Well I sure want to know. I mean its kind of odd. We just saw him what Friday and now all of a sudden we come to breakfast on Monday morning and he's gone? I mean come on there is something definitely weird with this picture," Shaina said.

"I know what you mean, but hey I agree with Sirius. The worst teacher is gone, life is good," James said and Sirius gave a satisfied smirk.

"Whatever, lets just eat. We have Transfiguration first and then we have Potions with this new bloke and I think that we'll all need a good breakfast to last through the morning until lunch," Lily said and everyone resumed eating except Sirius and Peter as they had already began eating again right after Dumbledore finished his announcement.

Potions-Everyone but Peter

"Welcome class as you all know from breakfast this morning I am Professor Slughorn, and I am to be your potions master until the end of the year and maybe into the next," the professor said with a bit of excitement in his voice. "Now I understand that you are all on the final step of making your veritaserum potions, am I right?"

The class nodded as Slughorn went on. "Well that should not take you more and half an hour to forty-five minutes at most and since this is a double class I would like to just talk to you all for the first half. You know, let you all get to know me a bit and maybe even let me get to know you all a little as well."

Lily and the others exchanged curious looks with each other before turning back to the professor.

"I've taught here for about fifteen years, but I quit seven years ago. I was potions master back then and also Head of Slytherin. I've taught many people who now have great jobs or are in a position of high power…" Slughorn went own telling about his old students and even mentioned some like James', Shaina's, Lestrange's, and Malfoy's parents. By the time he was done talking half the class was on the verge of falling asleep and the one's that weren't, like Lily and Remus, were trying to make it look like they were interested which was a very hard thing to do. He talked animatedly, but the subjects of which he talked about were so boring that even the way he talked couldn't save some people from falling asleep.

There was exactly forty-five minutes left of class when Slughorn was done with 'introducing' himself. They all immediately set to work finishing up their veritaserum potions. At the end of class Shaina and Remus' was almost crystal clear, but nothing like Lily and Massie's that was brewed to perfection, and James and Sirius' looked just like Shaina and Remus'. All six were very pleased with themselves when class ended.

Dinner-Everyone

"So you guys I never got to ask you how class with that Slughorn bloke went," Peter asked the others.

"Um…he was…unusual," Lily tried to find the right words to describe him, but couldn't find anything that wasn't mean or rude.

"O-kay."

"Well he was nice and all, but all he did for the first half of the class was talk about himself and his old students that are now rich and have nice jobs," Massie answered.

"Yeah, I was almost put to sleep by it," Sirius said.

"Well that doesn't surprise anyone. Sirius Black falling asleep in class…how unusual," James said and everyone laughed including Sirius.

"Yeah but at least when I fall asleep in class I look normal unlike you who drool's on the desk and mutters 'Lily' every ten seconds," Sirius retorted and there were even more laughs from the others except James and Lily who were both blushing madly which made everyone laugh even harder.

After supper they retreated to the common room to do some of the mountain of homework that they were assigned.


	9. Invitations

**9. Invitations**

November was soon over without much excitement except for Professor Slughorn having favorites like Lily, Shaina, Remus, and some kids of well known families like James and some other Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, Slytherins, and Hufflepuffs.

Everyone sat in the common room on the first Saturday night in December.

"Anyone going home over the vacation?" Peter asked. At the start of this topic Lily tensed up and became quiet. James noticed this and figured that she didn't like the subject.

"Um…I think we're all staying here except for you Pete so lets talk about something different," James said trying to make it a bit more comfortable for Lily. He guessed that the reason she tensed up was because of her mother. "Anyone excited for the quidditch game next weekend besides my devoted players?"

"We're all ecstatic about it! You know getting to sit in the stands in the negative twenty degree weather!" Massie replied sarcastically.

"Hey, at least you don't have to play in this weather!" Shaina exclaimed.

"Aww come on you guys cheer up…we all know that Shaina's going to catch the snitch in like five minutes flat anyway. So pretty much right after you sit down to watch it'll be over," Sirius said trying to lighten the mood.

"Ha ha! That's provided I don't turn into an ice sculpture first!"

"You've got nothing to worry about…I'm sure Moony here will keep you warm." Both Shaina and Remus blushed at this comment and the rest of them laughed.

"Anyway…it'll be interesting I suppose. But I still don't get the point of going…we _always_ win," Lily said exasperated.

"So! Quidditch is only the BEST thing ever! Besides maybe…yeah," James said blushing slightly at the end and turning his head away as he was going to say Lily, but he really didn't want to ruin their growing friendship. He really wanted to just kiss her, but knew that their friendship would be over if he did, so he resisted the urge every time it came up. The comment was followed by an awkward silence, but after a few seconds Remus broke the silence.

"Uh, yeah. I think that we should start on our homework so we have a free day tomorrow," he said.

"Yeah, sounds good. Come on girls lets go upstairs and get our bags," Shaina agreed.

Girl's Dormitory-Lily, Massie, and Shaina

"Oh Merlin Lily, he was going to say your name!" Massie exclaimed the second they closed the door. Lily blushed.

"Aww look, our little Lils is blushing, I think someone's got a thing for a certain Mr. James Potter," Shaina teased.

"I do not!" Lily almost shouted while turning a darker shade of pink.

"Sure you don't and I'm the Queen of England."

"Why your Majesty, I had no idea it was you," Massie joked and bowed.

"Ha, ha," Lily said bitterly. She couldn't have a crush on James. Not James, the big-headed, arrogant git who always pranks everyone. No she couldn't. Not even a little. "Anyway lets get our bags and go back down stairs." She was desperate to get off the topic, though she knew that they would end up talking later on.

Common Room-Marauders

Sirius was rolling on the floor laughing while Peter chuckled slightly and Remus tried to suppress his laughter, but ended up giggling slightly. James just sat there glaring at them with a pink face.

"Okay, you guys can stop anytime!" James said getting angry.

"Sorry Prongs," Remus said stopping himself from laughing anymore. Peter was just starting to recover while Sirius made no effort to stop his laughing. James pounced on him trying to get him to shut up.

"Okay, okay. But you were about to say…Lil-lily's name," Sirius said starting to laugh again. James just sat back down and glared as the girls came down the stairs. Lily was pink faced and they were all looking at Sirius peculiarly.

"O-kay," Massie said. "I don't even want to know. Let's just start on our homework.

Breakfast-Everyone

"Ugh, I'm so tired," Massie complained.

"Yeah, who knew that our weekend homework would take us four hours to complete?" James said.

"I-I think my brain's rotted out," Sirius yawned.

"Well I only had one hour of homework," Peter said happily.

"Ah stuff it!" Sirius snapped.

"Don't be mean," Lily scolded Sirius, but Sirius had already tuned her out as hundreds of owls signaled the arrival of the mail. One owl landed in front of Lily, and another landed in front of Remus.

Remus opened his letter and quickly skimmed it then said, "Sorry you guys, but I have to go home for the holidays. I'll be coming back early though. The day after Christmas."

Sirius and James groaned. They were looking forward to at least having Remus with them, because Peter was also going home. Peter, on the other hand, smiled at Remus. He wouldn't have to spend the train ride back alone.

Lily just stared at the letter that the owl dropped in front of her. She'd already told her dad that she wasn't coming home. He was looking forward to seeing her, but wasn't overly upset that she wasn't coming home. He understood why and didn't blame her. Petunia wasn't in the least bit upset about it, she was actually thrilled. She had blamed Lily for their mother dying.

So Lily couldn't figure out who or why someone was writing to her, so she decided to just look at it curiously as if that would tell her who it was from and why.

"Aren't you going to open that, Lily?" Shaina asked looking at Lily peculiarly.

"Oh…um…yeah," Lily said snapping out of the trance she was in and picked up the letter timidly. She opened it slowly, pulled out what was inside, and looked at it curiously. It was an invitation, but just any invitation…it was a wedding invitation. One to…_Petunia and Vernon's wedding?_

Her friends all stared at it curiously too, but not like Lily. Lily was horrified. She'd only met Petunia's boyfriend or fiancé, Vernon, once. He wasn't someone that she'd want as part of her family. He acted like had a large stick stuck up his…and what made Lily curious was why would Petunia want to invite her to her wedding? She hated Lily. She blamed her for their mother's death, if it were up to her Lily wouldn't be a part of her family.

Lily thought about it a little longer before slamming it down on the table and leaving it there. She probably just invited her to make herself look better. To make it look like their family was perfect.

Now all of Lily's friends were looking at her with raised eyebrows.

"Petunia invited me to her wedding," Lily explained. Shaina and Massie immediately understood as they knew all about Petunia and how she acted towards Lily. The boys on the other hand still had curious faces.

"Who's Petunia," Peter asked.

"She's her sister," Shaina explained for Lily as she was too mad to say anything else.

"Um…o-kay," Sirius said just as, if not more, confused as before. As were the rest of the boys.

"Ugh…her and Lily don't exactly get along," Massie said. "Well, actually, that's an understatement. They loathe each other. Petunia's…jealous of Lily and never passes up an opportunity to call her a freak, because she's a witch."

"Then she also blamed Lily for…" Shaina trailed off noticing Lily's face change to a more saddened one.

"That's horrible. What kind of a sister acts like that. And then invites you to her wedding?" James said incredulously.

"I expect it's just because she wants it to seem like her family is perfect, and since most people know that she has a sister she has to invite me," Lily explained calming down a bit. "It doesn't matter, because I'm not going anyway."

"Well I think that you should," Massie said.

"And just why should I?"

"Because then you could prove to her that her calling you a 'freak' all the time, and never passing up an opportunity to make fun of you, and…"

"Okay we get it," Lily interrupted her. "Just get to your point."

"Okay, well, show her that you're not going to be affected by all that name calling stuff and that it's not your fault that…well…you know. Showing your face in public like that would just strengthen the fact that it wasn't your fault and that you don't believe it was."

"I agree," James said.

"Me too," the rest chorused.

Lily thought about it for a minute then finally agreed.

Common Room-Everyone

Everyone sat around the fireplace watching Peter, Sirius, Massie, and James play a game of exploding snap. They were all having a great time…just relaxing, and glad that the finished all their homework the night before. About half way through the game when Sirius had gotten out a third year girl came over to the group timidly.

"Um…I have something for Mr. Potter, Mr. Lupin, Ms. Evans, and Ms. Ryans," the girl said reading off their names from different envelopes. The girl handed them to James, Remus, Lily, and Shaina, and ran off before any of them could say thanks.

They each opened their envelopes and looked inside. Inside each was an invitation. They were invitations to…


	10. Hogsmeade

**10. Hogsmeade**

You have been invited to attend the first official Slug Club Christmas party on December 23rd. There will be lots of music, food, and dancing. Not to mention a lot of students your age and younger or older than you. It's a great chance to get to know others from different houses that you might not have met before. The dress is formal. All you need to bring is you're positive attitude and dancing shoes! It's going to be a wild party!

_Sincerely,_

_Professor H. Slughorn_

_Head of Slytherin and the Slug Club_

_Potions Master_

Lily, Shaina, Remus, and James all raised their eyebrow's simultaneously as they read what was written on the invitations. Massie was reading Lily's over her shoulders as Sirius read over James', and Peter over Remus'. All of a sudden Sirius burst out laughing, then Massie joined him in his laughing. Both were rolling on the floor clutching their sides.

"Mer-Merlin that's hilarious!" Sirius said as he started to calm down.

"I don't get what's so funny about it," Lily replied.

"Me neither," Remus agreed. Shaina and James nodded their heads in agreement. None of them could figure out why Peter chuckled and Sirius and Massie just started cracking up in laughter.

"Oh come on you guys, you don't find the fact that Slughorn is throwing a party and inviting his favorite students to it funny?" Massie asked incredulously.

"Not to mention the fact that he's calling it a 'Slug Club' party!" Sirius starting laughing all over again as did Massie.

"Okay, well the Slug Club part is funny, but not that funny," James said exasperated. "Is it that time of month Sirius?"

"What?!"

"I asked…"

"I know what you asked, but why would you say that?!"

"Well because I personally have always thought that you get kind of…"

"Okay James time to shut up."

"Are you admitting that it's true?" Shaina asked sniggering a bit.

"No! I'm just saying I don't want to have to listen to James ramble on about stuff that isn't true!"

"Suuuuure," Remus said joining in on the fun.

"Oh you people are impossible!"

"Anyway…are you guys going to go?" Lily asked not wishing to further the topic that had started up.

"I will, you never know it could be fun," Shaina answered.

"Whatever, it's not like I have anything better to do," James said and Remus agreed.

"You guys are joking, right?" Sirius asked.

"No, why?" Remus replied.

"You all can't go! That'll leave me here…alone…with just Sirius and Peter! That's not nice!" Massie said and got a soft punch in the arm from Sirius.

"Hey! You know you love me," he said.

"You wish."

"Humph, fine if that's how you want it to be. I guess I'll just leave," Sirius fake pouted and pretended to get up and leave.

"Fine, whatever. I don't really care."

"You're mean you know," Sirius replied as he sat back down giving up on getting her to feel bad.

"What can I say? It's a gift."

"Fine if you guys go, I guess that just means that Peter, Massie, and I will just have to crash it."

"You can't do that!" Lily said.

"It's not like you can stop me. I'll do it either way. There is no chance in Hell that I'm going to be without my Jamesie and Remuspoo on a Saturday night."

"Do not call me that!!" James and Remus cried simultaneously. Everyone else started laughing.

Girl's dorm-Lily, Massie, and Shaina

A week had past with only the prospect of the last Hogsmeade trip before the vacation as excitement. The Hogsmeade trip was today. Lily was going with a Ravenclaw sixth year, Jon Hades. Sirius and Massie had agreed that they would just be friends…at least for now. As a result Massie was going with Jon's best friend, Mike Teplin. Lily, Massie, and their dates decided that they would spend the first half of the trip separate ( Massie and Mike, and Lily and Jon), then they would meet up at the Three Broomsticks around two. Shaina and Remus decided that they would go together…as friends. The rest of the marauders were going to have a boys day out, without Remus though.

Massie was looking in the mirror at her image. She was wearing a long sleeved light blue cashmere sweater with a pair of faded blur jeans. She had a fluffy white coat to put over it, as it was winter.

"Ugh, I'm so fat," she said putting her hands on her stomach and sucking in a bit.

"You are so not fat Mass!" Lily scolded her. "Don't even say that."

"But look at me. I have jelly rolls starting to form," she replied frowning at her reflection.

"Don't even start Massie. You know that there is nothing wrong with your image," Shaina assured Massie. Massie was still not convinced, but decided to just drop the subject. She looked over as Shaina. She was wearing a white long sleeved button up shirt with a purple vest. She had tight black jeans that fit her perfectly and her lavender coat sat on her bed beside her. Her hair was flowing in loose curls past her shoulders. She looked very preppy compared to her normal tomboyish look.

Then Massie turned her attention to Lily who was putting some last minute touches on her make-up. She was wearing a plain green sweater that matched her eyes. She had on dark blue jeans that accentuated her curves just right. Her hair was up in a high ponytail with two pieces of hair falling down framing her face. Her jacket was white like Massie's, but was a bit puffier and had fur on the hood, the ends of the sleeves, and the bottom of the jacket.

Massie turned her attention back to her reflection in the mirror. Her hair wasn't cooperating today. It didn't have the bounce it usually had so she threw it up in a messy bun. She had on light make-up, not too much and not too little. She didn't like the way she looked. She never really did though. She was the prettiest of the group according to half the boy population of Hogwarts, but she didn't believe it. When she looked at her friends she just felt that they outshined her in appearance, though she would never let her jealousy show. She always acted happy on the outside. She never let her feelings get in the way of anything. She kept her emotions bottled up inside and acted the way everyone expected her to act.

She grabbed her coat off her bed and left the room behind Lily and Shaina. Shaina met Remus in the common room as Lily and Massie went to find their dates in the Entrance Hall.

Hogsmeade-James, Sirius, and Peter

"So tell me why you and Mass aren't going together again," James said as he looked at a package of Dungbombs inside Zonko's

"Because we're just friends," Sirius said for what felt like the hundredth time. He was starting to get agitated. James had asked him the same question about fifty times this week. "And why aren't you with Lily?"

"Lily and I just started to be friends. After asking her out for three years straight and her hating me with all her will I think that our friendship is very…delicate right now. I don't want to ruin it by asking her out."

"Wow, I don't think I've ever heard something that deep from James since he was eleven when he said that he missed his baby blanket and his mom wouldn't let him take it with him to school because it was starting to wear out," Peter said and he and Sirius started laughing hysterically.

The three of them paid for their things and headed out the door ten minutes later.

Hogsmeade-Remus and Shaina

Shaina and Remus were standing by the fence that guarded the Shrieking Shack. Neither seemed scared of the house. Shaina didn't believe in ghost stories like that while Remus knew the real reason people heard piercing screams coming from it once a month. It was him during his transformations.

"I really don't get why people are so afraid of a house…I mean it is a little creepy looking. But it's not like the ghosts are going to kill you. That is if there even are any ghosts. You never know, the people who claim they've heard screams coming from it could just be delusional," Shaina said staring at the rickety shack.

"I know what you mean," Remus said deciding it was best to just agree with her. He wasn't going to tell her the truth behind the stories…at least not yet, not for a while. "It's kind of stupid to believe in haunted houses."

"Yeah."

They stood there in comfortable silence for a few more minutes before heading back to the village to buy some last minute Christmas gifts.

Hogsmeade-Lily and Jon

Lily and Jon walked down the streets hand in hand just enjoying each others company. Lily was enjoying her time with Jon fully. He was a sweet guy. He bought her candy at Honeydukes and offered her his jacket when she got cold, even though she declined because he only had a t-shirt on underneath. He was one of the cutest boys in the school too, along with his best friend Mike who was with Massie. He had neat dirty blond hair that was spiked in the front and light brown eyes.

"It's almost noon," Lily said. "I think that we should probably buy some last minute presents for our friends and family. I'm not getting yours until its just Massie, Shaina, and me."

"Ah, you're no fun," Jon teased.

"Is that so?" she bent down, picked up some snow, curled it into a ball, and threw it a Jon. It hit him on the side of the face. Lily laughed until a snowball came and hit her in the neck courtesy of Jon. Within seconds they were in a full fledged snowball fight while walking down the streets of Hogsmeade, laughing the whole way.

Hogsmeade-Massie and Mike

Massie stood in Barters Book Store looking for a book for Lily for Christmas. Mike stood behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist and his chin resting on her shoulder.

"Hmm…do you think Lily would like this?" Massie asked. She was holding a book called _The Da Vinci Code_ (Yes I know it definitely wasn't around then, but neither was I and I love that book, so…). "She's loves mystery muggle books and I've even heard of this one. It's supposed to have lots of twists in it, you know to keep you interested."

"I think she'd love it," Mike answered kissing her gently on her forehead. Massie smiled and headed over to the desk to pay for the book. She had finished shopping for all her friends gifts all she needed to get now was a gift for Mike.

"It's pretty much time to meet Lily and Jon," Massie said as they exited the shop together. They headed up the road to The Three Broomsticks. After five minutes of walking they finally reached the pub. It was very crowded with students eagerly sipping on their butterbeers trying to keep warm in the cold weather. Massie spotted Lily and Jon sitting at a table in the far corner. It looked like they were deep in a discussion about something. Then Jon said something to Lily and she threw her head back in laughter. Massie decided that they should just go over now before they start kissing. Sure enough as they got over there Lily and Jon were just about to kiss.

Massie coughed lightly to announce their presence. Lily and Jon immediately backed away and sat back in their seats. Lily was blushing furiously and Jon did his best to not look embarrassed.

"We…we didn't know that you two were here already," Lily said turning around to face them, her face bright pink.

"It's okay," Massie said getting an evil glint in her eyes. "We didn't know that we would be interrupting."

Lily's face got a whole new shade of pink that was even brighter than the first time.

"Sorry…you know me, I couldn't resist," Massie smirked. Lily just grunted in reply.

"Um…I think I'll go and get us some drinks…Mike can you help me?"

"Yeah sure, what do you guys want?"

"Butterbeer," Lily replied.

"Just a water please," Massie said.

"How about something to eat?"

"Doesn't matter to me," Lily answered.

"I don't want anything, thank you. I'm not very hungry."

"Are you sure Mass?"

"Yeah," Massie replied with a weird look on her face that only Lily noticed. The boys left to go get food and drinks.

"What is up with you? First you say your fat, then you don't want anything to eat when you barely ate anything at breakfast! Are you feeling ok?"

"Uh…now that you mention it, yeah. I have a slight stomach ache."

"Well how long have you had a stomach ache? You haven't really been eating much this whole year."

"I do too eat! I go down to the kitchens at night to eat, and sometimes during free period. I just don't feel like eating a lot in front of people."

"…whatever, but I really think that you need to eat more."

"Don't worry, I eat fine."

Just then the boys came back with three butterbeers, a water, and three plates of food.

"I got you some chicken and fries, I hope that's all right," Jon told Lily.

"Yeah, that's great. I love chicken," Lily smiled back.

"Mass, you can have some of my food if you change you mind," Mike said sitting down next to Massie.

"Thanks Mike, but I'm fine," Massie replied and Lily gave her a stern look. "Actually I guess I'll have some fries."

"Great," Mike said pushing his seat closer to Massie's and putting his plate between the two. Massie picked up a fry and took a small bite, chewing it slowly, and then swallowing. She proceeded to do that until she had about a quarter of the fries. By that time the rest were almost done eating.

"Well it's time for us to go," Lily said getting up and giving Jon a peck on the lips. "Shaina just came in." Massie got up giving Mike a quick kiss and following Lily over to Shaina and Remus. Remus said good bye to them and found the table the rest of the marauders were currently occupying and sitting down at the empty chair that was saved for him.

The girls spent the last two hours of the trip buying the gifts that they didn't buy with their dates. They came back to Hogwarts with their arms full with shopping bags.


	11. The Party

**11. The Party**

A week before the holiday vacation was the Slug Club party. It was to be this coming Saturday. Lily and Shaina weren't excited about it, but they didn't mind going. James and Remus on the other hand were excited at the prospect of Sirius and Peter crashing it.

"Why aren't you going to crash the party with us Mass?" Sirius asked two days before the party at breakfast.

"I don't feel like it. I don't feel like getting in trouble with the new professor just yet."

"Fine…party pooper!" Sirius said childishly.

"Oh don't even try and pull that one over on me…I know all your tricks…Siri," Massie smirked.

"Do not call me that. Besides you don't know all my tricks," Sirius said with a mischievous glint in his handsome eyes. He reached his hand sneakily behind Massie and grabbed her bag. Once he got a hold on it he dragged it over to his side while paying close attention to the conversation around him so as not to give away what he was doing. When he was sure that Massie wasn't looking he turned and started rummaging through her bag for something he could use to get her to crash the party with them. Just then Massie turned to look at Sirius and saw him with her bag.

"Hey! That's mine Sirius! Give it back right this instance!!" Massie shouted while trying to get her bag but Sirius was taller than her so when he stood up and held it up in the air she couldn't get it. Massie jumped and tried to grab it. Luckily there weren't many people in the Great Hall as breakfast was almost over, so it was only the slow people who saw this confrontation.

"Nope, not until you promise that you'll crash the party with us."

"No! I don't want to."

"Then I guess you're not going to get this back then."

Sirius started to run out of the entrance hall with Massie hot on his heel. All of a sudden Massie stopped putting her hands on her knees and panting.

"Oh-okay…" Massie started holding her hand up to Sirius who had stopped about fifteen feet from her. He looked at her with a smirk on his face waiting for her to continue. All of a sudden Massie started sprinting towards him, took the bag and stopped a safe distance away before Sirius even knew what happened.

"Ha! That wiped the smirk right off your face," Massie said satisfied with his shocked expression and having her bag back.

"That's cheating! You're a cheat!"

"So. You actually expect me to play by the rules?"

Sirius made a disgruntled noise, but soon smiled and said, "Nice one, you got me there."

"I know."

"Oh you little…"

"What was that? I didn't quite catch that, could you repeat it?"

"Oh ha, ha."

"What can I say?"

Lily, Shaina, James, Remus, and Peter watched the whole thing with amusement. Lily walked over to Massie and handed her some toast.

"Here, you left before you could get anything to eat."

"Um…thanks."

Massie took the toast and Lily watched as Massie chewed and swallowed a small bite. Sirius saw Lily watching Massie taking a bite of her toast. He thought it was a bit peculiar, but thought nothing really of it. They continued to walk towards the greenhouses for their herbology class. When they got there Lily and Massie left the group to stand with Jon and Mike.

The rest of them stood in their own little group.

"Well this is fun…they left me to be the only sane one in the group. Not only the only sane one, but also the only girl," Shaina said jokingly.

"Thanks we love you too," James said back.

"Ah, that means…actually that doesn't mean much to me…just kidding, I love you guys too."

"I don't get the point of still going to classes when almost everyone's leaving in a week for vacation," Peter groaned.

"It's because they like to torture us Wormtail," Remus answered.

Gryffindor Common Room-Massie

Massie crept down the stairs slowly. It was four in the morning, she couldn't sleep so decided that she would take a walk. She took her foot off the last stair and was finally in the common room. Silently she made her way towards the portrait hole.

"What are you doing up so late?" someone asked from the chair behind her. She jumped up startled and turned around to face one person she didn't want to see at the moment.

"Oh…um…I couldn't sleep so I decided to take a walk down to the kitchens…you know to get a little something to eat."

"Do you mind if I come?" Sirius asked.

"Um actually yeah I do. I just want some time to myself right now."

"Oh…okay."

"Well I guess I'll see you later. Bye."

"Yeah, bye."

Sirius sat back down as Massie exited the common room. Something was up with her. First she doesn't want to crash the party, then she wakes up at four in the morning and decides to go down to the kitchens alone. Something was up. Sirius was always up at this time in the morning. He didn't sleep well these days. Ever since he ran away last summer he didn't sleep much. Every time he came close to falling asleep he was woken by a nightmare. It was always the same one.

He was a little older than he is now, maybe just out of school. He was in a house, his house, with a women. It was a beautiful woman. Her golden hair and blue eyes reminded him of someone, but he couldn't place her. They were sitting in the living room when a crash came from the kitchen. Sirius told the woman to stay there and he would be right back. The woman would sit back down on the couch and watch Sirius creep towards the kitchen door. On the other side of the door a man with a black cloak and skeleton like mask stood and watched. He would raise his wand and point it at Sirius and Sirius would do the same. The man shouted a spell but Sirius dodged it and just as he would be about to say a spell back a high pitched scream would come from the living room. The woman would yell out for Sirius and he would run into the living room to find the woman gone. It was then that he would wake up in a cold sweat and not being able to get back to sleep.

After an hour of thinking Sirius started to fall asleep. Massie had not come back and he was getting worried, but the tiredness of everything was taking over him. He soon drifted off into a restless sleep.

Common Room-Massie

Massie entered the common room again. It was six thirty in the morning now and the early risers were starting to get up. She looked over at the chair Sirius was in earlier that morning. He was still there only this time he was asleep, but his face looked troubled like it wasn't a pleasant dream he was having. She walked over to him deciding to wake him up so that no one else would see him in his pajama bottoms and no shirt sleeping. Gently she nudged his shoulder and he woke up with a jolt. But once he saw that it was Massie in front of him waking him up he relaxed a bit.

"Did you just get in?!"

"No…I, um, just sat in my room…reading. Yeah, reading," Massie lied. "I couldn't fall back asleep so I just sat in bed and read."

Sirius looked at her knowing that she wasn't telling him something, but decided to leave it for now. He would touch upon that subject some other time. He got up and climbed up the stairs to his dorm as Massie did the same heading towards hers.

Breakfast-Everyone

"Mass, aren't you going to eat anything?" Shaina asked her while Lily stared at her as if trying to force her to eat.

"No, I woke up at like four this morning and went down to the kitchens to get something to eat then." Lily and Shaina just stared at her, not believing her one bit.

"No really its true…ask Sirius." She turned towards Sirius. "Tell them Sirius."

"Yeah, she did," he replied thinking it was a bit peculiar for her best friends not to believe her that she went to the kitchens earlier for food.

"Why don't you guys believe her anyway?" James asked obviously thinking the same thing that Sirius was.

"We just wanted to make sure that's all," Shaina said swiftly, though they had their reasons.

"Okay."

"So anyway…what are you guys going to bring to the party? It's not really crashing a party without doing something to make the party better," James asked Sirius and Peter.

"Well we were thinking…"

Girl's Dorm-Night of Party

"Are you one hundred percent positive that you don't want to crash the party with Sirius and Peter?" Shaina asked Massie for the like fiftieth time.

"Yes," Massie answered exasperatedly. "I'm going to catch up on the pile of homework that we have and then catch up on my sleep."

"Okay...but if you change your mind you know that you are always welcome to come," Lily told her.

Massie laid down on her stomach on her bed and looked at her two best friends. Shaina was wearing a light purple dress with black heels. She had a necklace with an amethyst in the middle of a heart, the chain was gold as well as the heart. She had a pair of matching dangling earrings. She wore light purple eye shadow, black mascara, and black eyeliner. To top it all off her hair was done in an elegant bun in the back of her head with a few curled pieces falling down to frame her face. She look gorgeous.

Lily was wearing an olive green dress that fell just past her knees. She had a pair of black heels on also. Her necklace was made up of a bunch of small emeralds. Her earrings were emerald studs. She wore dark green eye shadow near her eyelashes and it got gradually lighter green as it moved up her eyes. She had black eyeliner, black mascara, and light blush. Her hair hung in loose curls, half up, half down with two strands framing her face. She looked just as beautiful as Shaina.

"Wow, you guys look…gorgeous."

"Thanks," they replied in unison.

"You're going to have all the guys there staring at you. They won't be able to keep they're eyes off you. Remus won't either Shaina, or James for that matter Lily." Shaina blushed furiously while Lily just blushed slightly though it looked like more because she already had blush on.

Common Room-James and Remus

"Tell me again why we decided to go? These stupid dress robes are uncomfortable," James complained to Remus.

"Well we agreed because it would be a chance to get away from the normal school hassle, but more so because Lily and Shaina are going."

"Oh yeah. I think the second one's a good enough reason to wear these stupid things."

Remus just shook his head slightly. Just then Lily and Shaina came gracefully down the stairs. They both looked beautiful, but Remus was staring at one of them in particular…Shaina. Meanwhile James was openly staring right at Lily with his jaw hanging a bit in awe.

Shaina and Lily walked up to the boys and smiled at their faces.

"We'll take the look on you guys' faces as compliments…thank you very much," Shaina smirked.

"Okay, enough staring boys. Shall we go?" Lily asked and pulled James through the portrait hole as Shaina did the same to Remus.

Boy's Dorm-Sirius and Peter

"Sirius!" Sirius' pocket yelled. He pulled out a mirror out of his pocket and saw James' face in it. They each had a mirror that is part of a two-way mirror.

"Hey! So what's going on there?"

"It's boring as hell!! You two better bring some good music with you guys and your party moods."

"Oh don't worry…we will. We'll be down there in fifteen minutes. Bye!"

"Bye!"

Sirius set down the mirror on his bedside table and grab his bag of stuff, then he and Peter left for the party.

Party-James and Remus

"Okay…it's been fifteen minutes where are they?"

"Relax Prongs. They don't have to be here at exactly the time they said they would be," Remus reassured his friend. He looked around at the groups of people chatting to each other. Almost everyone look bored out of their minds. They each had dull expressions on their faces and Remus could tell that they'd all rather be anywhere than where they were right now. Professor Slughorn was in the corner talking to Raven Tye, a Ravenclaw fifth year prefect, presumably about her father. Her father was an unspeakable for the ministry and had recently uncovered a veil type thing that is like a passage between the living and dead worlds.

Remus tore his gaze away from them and noticed Lily and Shaina coming towards James and himself.

"Okay, this is boring as hell. Not that I've ever been there," Shaina added when she saw James about to retort.

"Yeah, Sirius and Peter better get here soon," Lily said. Just then the slow steady music came to a stop, and was replaced with blasting music from the Victorious Vampires, a famous wizard band who does rock, hip-hop, and rap. Everyone cheered and started dancing, but that wasn't all that happened. Streamers, balloons, confetti, noise makers, and other party items appeared and fell from the ceiling or made lots of noise.

"LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!!!!"

Girl's Dorm-Massie

Massie stared at the ceiling above her bed. Her eyes were wide open, she wasn't tired not in the least bit, but she didn't want to be with everyone right now. She had time to think now. She's been having a hard time to get time away from her friends to spend by herself all year.

Her stomach growled. She put her hand to her stomach and decided that she better go get something to eat. She walked down the stairs and into the almost empty common room. Apparently Sirius and Peter told as many people as they could to go to the party with them. Massie walked through the portrait hole and made her way to the kitchens.

Party-You know

"This is so awesome you guys!" Shaina shouted over the music to Sirius and Peter.

"Yeah, we know," Sirius replied cockily.

"Don't compliment him Shai. He doesn't need a bigger head," James smirked as Sirius glared at him.

"Much like you," Remus, Lily, and Shaina retorted in unison. Now it was Sirius' turn to laugh and James' turn to glare.

"Oh Merlin!" Lily laughed and pointed to the dance floor. All six of them started laughing hysterically. Professor Slughorn was in the middle of the dance floor doing every dance he could possibly think of, the sprinkler, the snorkel, etc.

Sirius recovered from his laughing and made his way over to the professor.

"What is he doing?" Peter asked after catching his breath.

"I think I have an idea," James sighed and Remus caught on pretty quickly.

"Oh no, he wouldn't."

"Uh, yeah he would," Shaina added in and pointed at the place where now not only Professor Slughorn was dancing, but Sirius also. Together they did the disco, turned in circles while circling their hands, and shook their…well lets just say it wasn't a pretty sight to see a professor doing it. This sent the whole room into fits of uncontrollable laughter, even some Slytherins. Sirius and Professor Slughorn stopped their dancing and bowed to the 'audience'. You could tell the professor was a little bit more than just drunk.

"Okay, what did you give him Sirius?" Lily asked when Sirius got back over to the group.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Lilykins," Sirius replied with an innocent face.

"Right Sirius…I'm sure."

"Oh alright you caught me," Sirius put his hands in the air as if surrendering. He clearly just wanted to tell them what he did, normally he wouldn't have given up that easily. "I just spiked the punch when no one was looking…nothing you wouldn't expect of me. But apparently Sluggy likes his punch. He seems to have had a lot of it."

"You're horrible you know that?" Shaina said.

"Yeah, but what can I say? I was born like that."

"Must have been some serious deformity or he was just dropped on the head one too many times," Shaina mumbled, but Sirius still heard that.

"Hey! I heard that you know!"

"You were supposed to dipshit."

"Oh, that's nice of you to say."

"I know. I'm just an all around nice person," Shaina said in a sweet voice and Sirius snorted rather loudly. "Well if you're going to be like that then I guess I'm just not going to give you your Christmas present…yeah that shut you up."

The group went onto the dance floor and danced their hearts out for the next hour. After that hour of dancing they stood on the side out of breath and pink faced. Sirius whispered something to Lily and she nodded when the others weren't looking.

"Shai, come over here will ya? I have to ask you something," Lily grabbed Shaina and pulled her away from James, Peter, and Remus. She brought her over to the food table as Sirius dragged Remus away and stopped not too far away from Lily and Shaina.

"So, you like Remus don't you?"

"Um, yeah. You know that…why are you asking?"

"Because if you do then do something about it."

"No, he obviously doesn't like me…"

"Yes he does, but he's Remus. All he needs is a little push in the right direction…just like you," Lily told Shaina, then shoved her to the left.

Remus/Sirius

"Come on Remus! Just ask her out."

"No Sirius, and you know why I can't."

"That's bull Remus. I'm not saying go marry her. All I'm saying is ask her out, one little date won't hurt."

"You just don't get it Sirius."

"Of course I do…now here's what you're gunna do. You're gunna go up to her and either ask her out or snog her senseless," Sirius told Remus firmly and shoved him to the right.

Remus stumbled and when he finally gained his balance Shaina was shoved right into him.

"Oh sorry…Remus," Shaina apologized and turned an interesting shade of pink, so she turned her head quickly and faced Lily instead.

"What did you do that for!?" Shaina and Remus yelled together, but Shaina's was directed towards Lily and Remus' to Sirius. Lily and Sirius shrugged then exchanged amused glances. The already huge grins on their faces grew even larger at the confused looks on Shaina and Remus' faces. Then they both burst out laughing when Shaina and Remus found that they couldn't move.

"What did you to do?" Shaina shouted at them, hands on her hips, red faced from anger, glaring, and tapping her foot impatiently. By this time James and Peter came over to them with smirks on their faces. They'd obviously figured out what was going on.

"Just look above you," Sirius pointed to the ceiling above them. There on the ceiling, was a piece of mistletoe. It then dawned on the both of them what was going on. Their jaws dropped slightly simultaneously.

"You mean…that we…have to…you know…how long?" Shaina stuttered in shock.

"Only a few seconds…or more," Lily replied, but muttered the last part under her breath.

"How long…exactly?" Remus persisted.

"Fine…only twenty seconds," Sirius told them.

Shaina gulped and Remus sucked in then let the air out slowly. They inched closer to each other slowly then tilted their heads a bit to their right. Finally there lips met. Electricity flowed through their bodies. Shaina wrapped her arms around Remus' neck as he put his hands on her waist pulling her closer to him. He gently prodded the side of her mouth with his tongue and she eagerly accepted the gesture. Minutes seemed to go by as they deepened the kiss. Finally they pulled apart both out of breath. They turned and looked at their friends.

Lily had a huge grin on her face and her eyes were sparkling with happy tears. Peter and James both had there jaws hanging so low they almost touched the ground. Sirius stared wide-eyed at them.

"Holy shit…I didn't think that it was possible for people to hold their breath that long, but I guess I was wrong…wow!" Sirius said bluntly recovering from his temporary shock. Remus and Shaina blushed and pulled away slightly.

"Does this mean you to are going to go out now?" Peter asked the two standing under the mistletoe. They looked into each others eyes and as if reading the others mind replied, "Yes!"


	12. Drama King? And Just Plain Old Drama

**12. Drama King? And Just Plain Old Drama**

Massie woke up Christmas morning to the sound of Shaina ripping open her presents. She looked over to Lily's bed and found Lily rubbing her eyes and yawning, apparently she wasn't the only one woken up by Shaina. Alice was staring at Shaina wondering how she could be up so early even if it was Christmas, and Riley, Alice's best friend and the other Gryffindor sixth year girl, was still sleeping. Lucky her, Massie thought.

Massie crawled to the end of her bed to be greet by a large pile of presents. Carefully she picked up the one on the top and starting unwrapping the gift.

"Hey sleepy head. How was your night?" Massie had been told everything that happened at the party the day after it all happened. She was ecstatic to hear that Shaina and Remus had finally gotten together. It took them long enough.

Massie turned her attention back to her gifts. She opened to the one on top, it was from Lily. She had gotten her a beautiful white gold charm for the charm bracelet that she'd gotten her in second year. She always received a new charm each year at Christmas. This time she got a horse charm…Massie's loved horses ever since she could understand what they were. This was her fifth charm. When she'd first gotten he bracelet it had a solid white gold heart attached to it. On the front BFF was engraved and MC, LE, and SR was inscribed on the back. In third year she'd gotten a wand charm, fourth year it was a flower with a ruby in the middle (her birthday is in July…ruby is her birthstone), and fifth year she received a pair of ballerina shoes charm (she dances all summer and used to dance all the time before Hogwarts).

By the time she finished opening her gifts she had a considerably large pile in front of her. Among the gifts she received was a magical music box with a ballerina in the center charmed to dance a routine to the music when the box was opened from Shaina, a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans from Peter, a large package of Filibuster's Fireworks from James, Droobles Best Blowing Bubblegum and Ice Mice from Remus, and a large silver butterfly hair clip from Sirius. She also received a pair of heart-shaped earrings with little sapphires all around the edges from Mike (who is still her boyfriend).

"Oh my gosh, those are beautiful," Alice gushed at the earrings. Massie blushed slightly and put them on, along with putting the clip from Sirius in her hair.

Shaina put on her white gold necklace covered with amethysts and matching earrings from Remus. She'd also received her fifth charm for her bracelet from Massie (all three of the girls had one…Lily bought Massie's, Massie bought Shaina's, and Shaina bought Lily's each year. Massie's was always white gold, Shaina's yellow gold, and Lily's silver). Her five charms were the same heart as Massie's (they all had it), a snitch, a flower with an amethyst in it (her birthstone-February), a broom, and this years, a pair of running shoes (she loved to run, it kept her healthy and strong for quidditch). She got a package of dungbombs from James, candy from both Sirius, and Peter, and the most gorgeous top she'd ever seen from Lily. The top was a light purple cashmere sweater that was charmed to fit the person who owns it's body shape perfectly.

Lily looked at her gifts smiling, it was a really good turnout this year, not that it wasn't every year. She'd received her fifth charm also. So now her bracelet had the engraved heart, a softball (a muggle sport that Lily played before Hogwarts and missed it dearly), a flower with an emerald in it (her birthstone-May), a star (she loved looking at the stars, just not studying them), and this years, a book. She'd also gotten some candy from Peter and Remus, some joke items from Sirius, and an expensive bottle of perfume from Massie. From James she got a very rare book called "All the Charms of the World", to put it shortly she loved it, but she also loved the gift Jon got her (still her boyfriend). He'd gotten her a gold anklet with emeralds hanging off of it. It was beautiful.

The girls thanked each other, got dressed, and made their way down the steps into the common room. They saw the boys sitting on the couch by the fire discussing their gifts. The girls went over and Shaina sat down on Remus hugging, thanking, and kissing him. Massie and Lily sat on the floor in front of the couch and they all thanked each other for the gifts they received.

"Hey, we have a surprise for you guys," Sirius told the girls. They looked at him with curiosity. "Come on…"

The boys all got up and walked out of the common room with the girls in tow. They made their way down a few halls and soon found themselves in front of the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy.

"The Room of Requirement?" Shaina questioned as the four boys walked back and forth three times. A door soon appeared and Peter reached out to open it. The other three went over to the girls and covered the girls' eyes with their hands. The boys led the girls into the room then lifted their hands from their faces. The girls mouths dropped a bit then turned into huge grins.

"Oh my gosh!"

"Wow!"

"Ah-mazing!"

All around the room were hundreds of moving pictures. They were of the girls and the guys together for most of them anyway. There were pictures from first year up to now, all covering the walls of the room. Some were even of Lily yelling at James, others had the girls laughing at some joke, and there were even a few of a snowball fight the girls had against the boys in their first year. But what topped it all off was in the center of the back wall…a large portrait of all of them, Lily, Shaina, Massie, James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter, from fourth year…the last year they were friends until now.

"Oh!"

"My."

"Gosh."

The girls walked up to the large portrait with the guys following. All three had tears in their eyes threatening to spill out, but they were happy tears.

"I remember that day," Shaina said.

"Yeah me too. It was the first Hogsmeade trip in fourth year," Lily recalled.

"The last time we were friends before now," Massie added. "We went into that new store, well back then it was new, and we got that portrait taken as a symbol of our friendship."

"Kind of ironic, huh?…how the day after we promised to be friends forever we end up splitting up, all because one of your stupid pranks," Shaina remembered.

"We really didn't know that it would go wrong," Sirius said sincerely.

"Yeah, you know that we wouldn't intentionally hurt someone that bad for not doing anything to provoke it…not even Snivellus," James added.

"We know you didn't mean to, but it did go wrong, and you knew the risks of pulling it off in the first place. That's why we got so mad," Lily told the boys.

"But the reason we stopped being friends with you was because you didn't even have the decency to own up to what you'd done," Massie continued.

"We did eventually…you guys made us feel guilty," Remus confessed.

"Well good," Lily said.

"Um yeah, so can we please enjoy Christmas and continue this later…you haven't even seen the best part yet," Sirius interrupted pointing to the corner of the room. There was a large breakfast set up on a blanket with seven cushions surrounding it.

"Aww, you guys are soo sweet," Shaina gushed.

"Yeah, I can't believe you guys did all this for us," Massie added as Lily turned to the four boys giving each of them a huge hug and saying thanks. The seven students sat down at the cushions and began to pile their breakfasts onto their plates.

"So, you never told us…how did you get all these pictures?" Shaina asked.

"Yeah, and I can't believe you guys kept that portrait of all of us all this time," Lily commented.

"Well first of all…of course we kept the portrait. Even though you guys wouldn't talk to us, we still always believed that the friendship would pick back up sometime," Remus said.

"Yeah, and as for the pictures…a marauder secret," Sirius smirked.

"Aw come on stop being an arse and just tell us," Massie insisted.

"Um…let me think about it…nope, sorry can't tell."

"Yes you can…now tell us."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Gah! We'll tell you just stop bickering," James interrupted before Massie could retort.

"No!! Don't do it James!! You can't give in! No!!"

"All we did was…" James started, but was stopped by Sirius jumping on him to stop him from spilling the 'secret'.

"Gosh Sirius! Could you be any more of a drama queen?…king?" Lily gaped watching Sirius pin James to the ground.

"You can't do it James…I won't allow you to."

James struggled to get out from under Sirius, but seeing as the two were pretty evenly matched in strength and Sirius having the upper hand, he was unsuccessful.

Remus shook his head and answered, "We asked Alice for the pictures of you guys from when you weren't talking to us and for others we just used my pensieve to go back and take pictures from other times."

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" Sirius yelled as he turned around and got off James charging at Remus. Remus quickly dodged out the way of Sirius as he went face first into the breakfast. Lily, Peter, Shaina, and Massie quickly backed away a food flew into the air and landed around where they were sitting just seconds before. Then all at once the sixth kids without food all over them started clinging to the stomachs rolling on the floor laughing. Sirius just kept his face in the eggnog that it landed in and allowed his friends to have their first laugh, for he knew that once he took his head out of the eggnog the laughter would start all over again. And sure enough it did, but to add to it Massie took a picture as he lifted his head up and then added it to the wall. Finally after what seemed like forever the six calmed down enough to help Sirius get all the food off him and conjure up new food.

"Well what have we learned this morning Mr. Drama King?" Massie smirked and Sirius just rolled his eyes and gave an oh-ha-ha face before turning back to his food.

After a few minutes of just talking about random stuff Lily noticed that Massie hadn't eaten anything yet. "Mass, aren't you going to eat?"

"Wha-oh no. I promised Mike that I would meet him at eleven outside the kitchens for a brunch…did I forget to mention that?"

"Uh, yea you did…but why don't you just eat a little while you're here…you've still got and hour and a half until eleven," Shaina suggested.

"Nah, I'm fine thanks."

"O-kay," Shaina exchanged a quick glance with Lily which Sirius was quick to notice. Now he definitely knew something was up, but he just couldn't figure it out. An hour later Massie left to meet Mike while the others decided to stick around and hang out a bit more.

Once positive that Massie was gone Sirius rounded on Shaina and Lily.

"Okay guys, what is up with her?"

"We don't know exactly, but what we do know is that she's avoiding eating," Shaina told him as Lily walked off towards the door.

"Yeah, I've noticed that too," Remus added.

"Me too," James and Peter said at the same time.

"You'll have to ask Lily about it…she's the first one that noticed anything," Shaina said. Sirius turned around and saw Lily staring at a picture of her, Shaina, and Massie on the train ride home after their first year. Sirius started walking toward her and as he got closer he noticed that she was silently crying. He sped up and put a comforting arm around her.

"Lily, are you okay?"

Lily turned to face the others and Sirius and shook her head slowly. Then she leaned against the wall and sank to the floor as the others crowded around her.

"I'm worried about her. She's been acting weird all year. She never seems to be eating, she's distant all the time, and I don't know what's wrong. She doesn't tell us anything anymore…but I think I know one thing…I think…I think that she's anorexic or bulimic or something…she has some eating disorder, but I don't know what triggered it."

"Lils, that's a very serious accusation, but…I think you may be right," James said. The others looked up at James. "I mean think about it…she never eats around us, she constantly seems tired, she is distant, but the only thing is…she doesn't seem to be losing much weight if that's it."

"Hold on…I had to do a project on eating disorders for a muggle school I went to when I was young. Yeah, I know…a muggle school, but my parents wanted to send me…anyway, eating disorders aren't always about losing weight. It's about being in control…you can always control what and when you eat," Shaina said.

"Yeah, I've read about them before too," Peter added. (Yes, I know. But he is a marauder and he never talks so…might as well). "Anorexia is not eating anything at all, but bulimia is binge eating then puking it up later…"

"Yes, and both are equally dangerous. Anorexics tend to lose weight a lot faster…they're the ones that are usually doing it to lose weight…they're afraid of it, weight that is…bulimics have more of a control issue or do it because of a demanding sport, like wrestling or boxing where weight is everything. They don't have as much of a dramatic decrease in weight as anorexics. They can be triggered by a traumatic experience, like a situation where the person had no control over anything that happened. In both situations the person is usually fidgety or uncomfortable in situations where everyone around them is eating…hence why Mass doesn't talk much or pay attention during meals," Shaina informed the group.

"True…all of it…I have an idea," Remus said. "Okay, you know how she said that she was meeting Mike for a brunch and that's why she didn't eat earlier?"

They all nodded and Remus continued, "Well, how about after lunch or dinner or sometime today one of us asks Mike if she ate anything on their date?"

"That's actually a good idea," James said.

"Yeah, that way if he says yes we know that she's not anorexic because she is eating, and she's probably not bulimic either because if she was she would binge eat and then puke it up soon after," Lily agreed.

"And if he says that she didn't eat, then I think our suspicions are probably correct," Sirius said. "But I think that we should see what he says first, before we decide what to do next."

Common Room-Everyone

The group hung out for a bit more before returning to the common room. They played a few games before Massie returned. When she entered everyone looked up from their game of exploding snap and put smiles on their faces, though somewhat falsely.

"Hey, how was your brunch?" Shaina asked.

"It was good, I had a lot of fun. Mike is really great," Massie replied.

"That's great!" Lily exclaimed with fake cheeriness, and just after the game was ended.

"Let's play…truth or dare!" Peter suggested.

"Sure," the rest replied.

"Okay, I'll go first," James offered. "Shai, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Hmm…have you ever gone skinny dipping with a guy?"

Shaina looked to the ground and muttered something incoherent under her breath.

"What?"

"Uh…yeah…once," Shaina answered more audible, her face bright red.

"Oh really?" Sirius teased. "And who was this guy?"

"Umm, you wouldn't know him. It was the summer before last…he's a muggle and my neighbor." She looked over at Remus and gave him an apologetic look. He just smiled and waved his hand in front of his face indicating it was fine. "Okay, Sirius truth or dare?"

"Dare."

"Uhh…you have to dress up like that muggle make-believe person, what's he called?…oh yeah…Santa Claus, and you have to wear that outfit to dinner."

"Wha-? No!"

"Fine, then you take a chicken…"

"Oh no way! Sirius Black never takes a chicken!…I'll do it."

"Well that was easy convincing…Lily, can you conjure up a Santa Claus outfit?"

"Sure thing," Lily replied while conjuring up a large red suit, hat, black boots, and a white beard. "Here you go Siri."

"Ah! Stop calling me that!" Sirius took the outfit and went up to his dorm to put it on. Two minutes later he walked down the stairs looking like a young, thin Santa. The rest of the group was sent into hysterics at the sight of Sirius for the second time that day as Shaina took another picture.

"Oh yes, it's hilarious…I know, now let's get back to the game…I have a dare for two people…Lily and James."

"What!? What if we don't want a dare?"

"Well too bad Lilykins…I dare you two to stand up in front of the great hall and sing that muggle song they showed us in Muggle Studies…When Christmas Comes To Town," Sirius finished with a smirk.

"Fine," James said, but Lily looked unsure. "Oh come on Lils…you'll be singing with me. Besides you have a beautiful singing voice, don't worry. It's only fair that we have to do something, so that Sirius isn't alone in having to do something at dinner."

"And Lily, there's not that many people there. Most are home for the holidays," Massie reminded her.

"Oh all right…"

The game went on for a bit longer and before they knew it dinner time arrived. As the seven students entered the hall, everyone in the hall's head's turned towards them. Almost immediately the hall burst into laughter at the sight of Sirius dressed as Santa.

"Lily…what does this Santa Claus guys always say?" Sirius whispered.

"Umm…ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas?" Lily answered not quite sure what he was going to do.

"HO! HO! HO! MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Sirius yelled joyfully above the laughter and put his hands on his stomach pretending to laugh. His friends looked at him questioningly while trying to hold in their giggles.

"Might as well act the part if I have to do this," Sirius replied, then his friends let their laughter escape with the rest as they all made their way to their seats.

Half way through dinner Sirius said, "Your guys' turn." He flicked his wand and music started to play throughout the Great Hall as Lily and James stood up.

James started.

_La La La La La La _

La La La La La La 

_La La La La La_

_I'm wishing on a star_

_And trying to believe_

_That even though its far_

_He'll find me Christmas Eve_

_I guess that Santa's busy_

_Cause he's never come around_

_I think of him when Christmas comes to town_

James stopped singing and Lily picked up.

The best time of the year 

_When everyone comes home_

_With all this Christmas cheer_

_It's hard to be alone_

_Putting up the Christmas tree_

_With friends who come around_

_It's so much fun when Christmas comes to town_

Presents for the children Wrapped in red and green 

James.

All the things I've heard about 

_But never really seen_

Lily.

No one will be sleeping on 

_The night of Christmas Eve_

Both.

Hoping Santa's on his way… 

The music played for a bit more before Lily picked it back up.

Presents for the children Wrapped in red and green 

James.

All the things I've heard about 

_But never really seen_

Lily.

No one will be sleeping on 

_The night of Christmas Eve_

Both.

Hoping Santa's on his way… 

Lily.

When Santa's sleigh bells ring 

James.

_I listen all around_

Lily.

_The herald angels sing_

James.

_I never hear a sound_

Lily.

_And all the dreams of children_

James.

_Once lost will all be found_

Lily.

That's all I want when Christmas comes to town 

Both.

That's all I want when Christmas comes to town 

The music stopped playing and Lily and James stood there both blushing, though Lily more so than James. Then all of a sudden the hall burst into applause, except for the few Slytherins that were still there. Lily smiled and James grabbed her hand and they bowed.

"Thank you, thank you for that lovely entertainment," Dumbledore addressed them while still clapping.

"Oh Merlin!" Lily exclaimed when she sat back down. "I don't think I ever want to do that again! That's the scariest feeling I've ever had."

"Lils you were great!" everyone at the table complemented.

"Hey! What about me?" James pouted.

"You too Jamsie-poo," Shaina said.

"Haha!! That's worse than Siri!" Sirius exclaimed and pointing at James whose face went into total shock and disgust at the nickname.

After dinner Shaina left saying she had to go to the bathroom, but everyone, save Massie, knew that she was really going to find Mike. She finally found him on the second floor heading towards the Ravenclaw common room.

"Hey Mike!"

"Yeah?"

"Um, I just wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, anything."

"During your brunch did Massie eat anything? Just curious."

"Uh…no. She said she ate breakfast with you all…something about a surprise from the Marauders and she didn't want to be rude and not eat anything after all the trouble they went through."


	13. Its Getting Worse

**13. It's Getting Worse**

Shaina slowly made her way back to the tower. She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to. Massie, her best friend since first year, has an eating disorder, and they have yet to find out what caused it. After what seemed like forever, Shaina finally reached the Fat Lady's portrait. She took a deep breath and said the password. She put on a neutral face in case Massie was up with the others, and as expected she was. They were all just sitting around peacefully reading or whispering to each other. No one noticed Shaina come in, so she made her way quietly over to the group and took a seat on the couch next to Remus cuddling up to him. She looked up at him with sadness in her eyes and he understood. He pulled her into a hug and assured her that everything would be alright.

"I'm gunna go to bed. It's been a long day," Lily broke the silence.

"I'm gunna go too," Massie said and she and Lily left to bed. The boys all turned to Shaina and she shook her head, then followed Massie and Lily up the stairs without another word.

The boys watched her retreating figure for a minute before turning back to face the fire, all with gloomy faces. After a few minutes of staring into the fire Sirius said, "It doesn't seem real, does it?"

"I wish it wasn't," James said.

"But it is, and now we need to figure out what to do about," Remus added.

"I think we should get her story first," Peter suggested.

"I agree, I want to know why. It just doesn't seem like she would do that normally," Sirius agreed.

"We should get some sleep, discuss this later," James said. The rest nodded and got up, but Sirius stayed put.

"You guys go ahead…I'll be up later."

"Are you sure?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, I'm just not tired."

"Okay."

When Shaina entered her dorm Lily was just getting into her bed, and Massie was in the bathroom. Shaina and Lily locked eyes, and Shaina gave a sad face. Lily broke eye contact with tears coming into her eyes. She closed her curtains and lay in her bed staring at the ceiling.

Massie came out of the bathroom five minutes later all dressed and ready for bed. Shaina was already in her pajamas and was sitting in her bed reading a book on quidditch, at least that's what it looked like to Massie. But really she was just staring at the pages lost in her thoughts.

I can't believe Mass would do that to herself. What happened to her? The old her never would have done this, she's usually strong and can handle anything. When her little sister died as a baby in third year she got through it. It was hard at first, but she did it. Now what could have happened that's worse that her little sister dying, there sure aren't many worse things.

Lily crept down the stairs, she was crying. It was almost two in the morning, she couldn't sleep. She entered the common room to find she wasn't the only one that couldn't sleep. Sirius was in the same position he was in when she left around 10. He finally took his eyes off the fire as Lily approached him. His face showed his emotions…sadness, worry, frustration. He was sad that Massie would do something like that to herself, worried that she would end up severely hurt or worse, and frustrated that he didn't know what to do to help her.

He looked at Lily's tear streaked face and pulled her into a brotherly hug. They sat like that for a few minutes before Lily pulled away and looked at Sirius.

"What are we gunna do?" Lily asked quietly.

"Honestly, I don't know. I think that we should do as Peter suggested…we confront her, try to get her to tell us what happened."

"But I don't want her to pull away and become even more distant."

"I don't either…but that's all we got to go for now."

"There has to be something else. Why don't we go to Dumbledore or McGonagall?"

"What are we gunna say? We don't know if it's for sure…maybe she just wasn't hungry today…"

"Who are you kidding…first of all she's been like this all year. Second of all why would she lie to both us and Mike if she just wasn't hungry?"

"I don't know…I just don't want to believe it. I'm just looking for some logical reason as to why we don't see her eat, but in reality she really is."

"But you know it's not true…"

"I know. That's why we need to do all we can to help her. Let's just see if we can get the reason why out of her first. Then we can go to Dumbledore and or McGonagall."

"Okay, but if she tries to pull away, then we're going to them…no matter what time of day or night it is."

"Okay."

Lily and Sirius woke up still in the common room. Luckily it was still too early for any students to be up and about. They got up said good-bye and went up to their separate dorms.

Lily entered hers to find Shaina and Massie still sleeping. She decided to go take a shower before one of them gets up and uses all the hot water. When she got out of the bathroom all dressed and showered Shaina was just stirring from her slumber and Massie was searching through her clothes to find something to wear. As soon as Lily exited the bathroom Massie went in. Lily and Shaina exchanged glances and went back to getting ready. An hour later all three girls were showered and dressed. They went down to the common room and met the boys. They walked down to breakfast together, each one, save Massie, wondering when a good time to bring up the eating disorder would be…only to realize that there would never be a good time. When they got to the Great Hall Massie left to go sit with Mike. The rest of the group looked at each other and watched her go.

"Hey," Massie gave Mike a quick kiss before seating herself next to her.

"Hey yourself. I got a bone to pick with you," Mike said finally getting to ask Massie something that's been on his mind all night.

"Okay…"

"After dinner last night Shaina came up to me and asked if you ate anything during our brunch. I said no that you said you ate during the surprise breakfast the Marauders made for you girls. Then I asked why and she hesitated before saying that she was just curious because you ate a big breakfast and she didn't want you to get sick from eating too much…what was all that about? I'm not stupid enough to believe that lie she gave me."

"I don't know what it was about," Massie lied looking at her friends at the Gryffindor table. "Just forget about it…they're just being over protective friends. The truth is that I didn't eat a lot at their breakfast, but that was because I wasn't feeling too hot…and I'm still not."

"Maybe you should go see Madame Pomprey then," Mike advised.

"Yeah, I think I will…I'll meet up with you later, k?"

"Alright, feel better…" Mike said giving her a quick kiss before she left the Great Hall.

Sirius watched Massie get up from where she was with Mike and walk out of the hall. He immediately told the others what he just say, and they all looked back to confirm for themselves that she was indeed not sitting with Mike anymore.

"But why would she leave?" Peter asked.

"I don't know, but we need to talk to her soon," Shaina said.

Massie wasn't going to the Hospital Wing, she felt fine. She just couldn't think of any other excuse to leave. She needed to get out of there before Mike started getting suspicious too.

_I can't believe that they would do that,_ she thought. _Why can't they just let me be? Don't they have better things to do than care if I eat or not? It's not that big of a deal. And now I can't even be near them…they'll bring it up for sure and I don't want to talk to them about it. This is one thing I want to keep to myself…along with what happened over the summer. No one needs to know…it's not their business, it's nobody's business but mine._

She continued walking around the castle and soon found herself in front of the bowl of fruit. She tickled the pear and entered the kitchens. House elves immediately were by her side asking her what she would like.

Lily, Shaina, Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter were sitting in the common room waiting for Massie to show up. Lily had gone to see if she was in the dorm after breakfast. That was over an hour ago.

"Let's just play a game…to get our mind off of things," James suggested.

"Good idea Prongs…hmm…let's play…" Sirius agreed.

"Blackjack," Lily offered.

"What's that?"

"It's a muggle game…usually to gamble, but…"

"Ooo I am soo in!" Sirius exclaimed excited at the prospect of gambling. "Let me go get my money."

"Sirius! Who said we were going to gamble? You don't have to gamble to play…"

"Aw, you're no fun…come on, let's gamble," James whined. Lily looked unsure, but agreed in the end hopeful to lighten the mood a bit if she let them have some fun.

When everyone had their money with them and out, Lily explained the game to them.

"First off…we're only going to gamble with knuts as you don't really know how to play, and I don't want to waste my money. Secondly, how to play…the dealer, that will be me, hands out two cards to each player including themselves, but one of theirs is face down, the first one. The point of the game is to get to 21 in card value or as close as you can without going over. A blackjack is when you get dealt any card that equals 10 and an ace in the deal. Got that?" The group nodded their heads in understanding.

"Now for what to do and scoring. Okay, so say you get a five and three, that equals eight. There is no way for you to get over 21 no matter what card you get. So in that case its best that you hit, which means that you get dealt another card. You can hit as many times as you want until you get as close to 21 as you can or you go over. It's best not hit when you have 15-17 or higher, definitely not if you have higher. If you go over 21 then you bust and the dealer gets your money. If the dealer beats you then they get your money. You have to beat the dealer win or push them, which means that you get the same total in which case you keep the money you bet." She paused for a minute to let it sink in, then started again.

"Now if you get two of the same value cards you can split them, but then you have to put out another bet of the same value to the second hand, then you get two more cards for those two, and you hit for both of them. You can also double down...that is when you think that you're hand will beat the dealers with only one more card dealt to you, and you also double your bet with it. Don't do that unless you have a total card value of 9, 10, or 11. When you're satisfied with your total you stand, which means the next person goes. The dealer will go last, unless they started out with a blackjack. In that case everyone who's playing that didn't also get a blackjack loses and gives their money to the dealer. If you win you get the money you put down and the dealer gives you equal that amount to you. Everybody got that?" The group stared blankly at her.

"Um, sure…let's just play and if we screw up then you can correct us until we all get the hang of it," Sirius said. The group played for a long time, Massie still hadn't shown up and before they knew it, it was time for lunch. Lily won the game for she actually knew how to play, but she didn't win by a lot, because when the game really got started the group pretty much knew what they were doing and each began to steadily win more and more money back.

They headed down to lunch and saw that Massie wasn't in the Great Hall then either, and she never showed up. All day the group waited for her and played games to keep occupied, but she never showed up and they were starting to get worried. Finally around 10 that night Massie entered through the portrait hole looking tired and a bit pale.

"Mass…" Lily started, but Massie interrupted her.

"I'm sorry, I don't feel like talking or hanging out. I'm really tired and just want to go to bed. Good night all."

Days past and it was New Years Eve. Massie had pretty much avoided her friends all week and when she did see them she made up some excuse and got away. Really, it was tiring her out even more. She couldn't concentrate on anything half the time and Mike was starting to notice. She just said that she must have a bug or something and that's why she looks sick and won't eat much. The group had decided that they were going to talk to Dumbledore and McGonagall today if they didn't get to talk to her by dinner. They didn't want to ruin the new year, but their friend was getting worse and they could tell. She was visibly exhausted, and the marauders and Lily noticed that she was getting worse than Remus was before the full moon. This was serious.

After lunch the group headed back to the tower. After hanging out for a bit Lily and Shaina decided to go up to their dorm to rest for a bit before dinner and the New Years party. When they got up there they saw Massie lying face up on her bed. Shaina went over to wake her so they could talk, but when she got there and got a closer look she noticed something.

"Lily, she isn't breathing!"


	14. Blame

**14. Blame**

The marauders were only by themselves in the common room for a minute before they heard Lily's screams coming from upstairs. James took out his wand and said the freezing spell on the stairs before sprinting up the stairs with the others behind him. He opened the door to see Lily on the floor crying and screaming for help while Shaina was standing over Massie, who was lying on her bed, with her own tears pouring from her eyes.

"Go get McGonagall!! She's not breathing!!!"

Remus who was closest to the exit turned on his heel and sprinted to get McGonagall. James went over to Lily helping her off the floor, letting her cry into his shoulder, while Sirius and Peter helped Shaina conjure a stretcher and get Massie on to it to get her to the Hospital Wing. They made their way as quickly as possible down the surprisingly empty corridors, as they bound down the stairs going onto the third floor McGonagall and Remus met up with them. Both of their faces paled extremely at the site before them. Massie was losing color quickly and they still had another floor to go down.

Finally, after what seemed like hours they made it to the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomprey was cleaning out her potions cabinet when they entered.

"What is going…" she started at seeing the group before her.

"Massie isn't breathing!" Sirius answered hurriedly. The nurse ran back to her potions cabinet and took out a teal colored potion and went back to the group who set Massie down on the closest bed. Madame Pomprey checked for a pulse and found a very light one. She opened Massie's mouth and poured the potion down with one hand and said a spell with her other so that the potion would be able to get into her system.

"What happened? She has a very weak pulse…one more minute and…" She didn't need to finish her sentence, they all knew what she was going on about.

"We don't know…Lily and Shaina went up to their dorm and found her unconscious and not breathing on her bed. We heard Lily scream and Remus went to get McGonagall as James, Peter, and I went to help Lily and Shaina," Sirius answered. The nurse turned back to Massie and checked a bunch of things with her wand, when she turned back to the group she had a glazed expression.

"I'm afraid that Miss Calyn here is suffering from severe nutrition loss and dehydration. She has very low potassium, magnesium, and sodium levels. She also has tears in her esophagus and ulcers in her stomach…tell me, has she been eating a lot then throwing it up later? Been distant? Or not eating at all in front of you?"

The group of friends looked at each other before Lily and Shaina burst into tears once more and the boys looked at the matron.

"Well…she's been really distant, eats very little when she's around us, disappears from time to time, and lies about eating," James answered not looking McGonagall or Madame Pomprey in the eyes.

"And why did you not tell anyone!?" McGonagall exclaimed, her anger rising.

"We we-were going to-o, today…as a mat-ter of fact," Lily answered.

"We only just figured out something was wrong a week ago on Christmas when she didn't eat the breakfast we made the girls, and then didn't eat during her brunch with Mike after," Peter said.

"And we wanted to confront her first, but she was avoiding us…I think she knew that we knew," Remus continued on after Peter finished.

"Then we decided that if she was going to keep avoiding us that we were going to tell you and Dumbledore about our suspicions," Sirius finished. Silence pursued for about a minute while McGonagall processed it all when all of a sudden Lily screamed out.

"MERLIN! IT'S ALL OUR FAULT!! If we didn't wait so long to finally decide to get someone's help, she wouldn't be here right now!!"

"It's not your fault dear…" McGonagall almost whispered. "You were only doing what you thought was best…no one could have known that this would happen."

"McGonagall's right Lily," James rubbed her back as she sobbed into his shoulder. "None of us knew how severe this was before now."

Nothing seemed to calm Lily down. She was too worked up, they all tried but nothing prevailed. An hour later Madame Pomprey informed them that she's done all she could, but Massie would have to be moved to St. Mungo's. This sent Lily into hysterics and Shaina started crying once more. Remus and James tried to comfort them, but they continued to cry. Even the boys were fighting to hold back their tears as they watched one of their best friends being flooed to St. Mungo's. Dumbledore, who McGonagall had gotten half an hour after being there, told the students that they could visit her tomorrow morning. So they made their way back to the tower with James and Remus practically carrying Lily and Shaina.

They could here the New Years party going on in the Great Hall and thought that if only they knew that one of their friends, most likely or not, was being treated in St. Mungo's right now, they wouldn't be having such a great time. When they got back to the common room they sat around the fire, Shaina and Lily both still having silent tears falling down their faces. Lily was still dead set on it being all their fault and was getting mad that no one else wanted to take any blame for it, but really Sirius and Shaina were feeling the same way as her they just didn't show it. Even James, Remus, and Peter felt a bit guilty for it happening, but they wouldn't admit it…it would just make things worse. Around 11ish Lily and Shaina had fallen asleep and James and Peter were starting to dose off. But Remus and Sirius were still wide awake. Sirius was too worried for Massie to get sleep, he even let a few tears escape his eyes. And Remus was worried for all his friends especially Massie, Lily, and Sirius. He knew that James and Peter would be able to handle it…they were better at handling this sort of stuff, and Shaina knew that he was there for her and that helped her keep calm. But Sirius and Lily were completely breaking down about this. Sirius was trying to hide it, but Remus knew and that scared him.

The group awoke around seven the next morning and immediately went to Dumbledore's office. They didn't even bother changing, they just wanted to get to Massie as soon as they could. When they arrived that the stone gargoyles they found McGonagall waiting for them.

"I figured you all would be up early," she said as they approached. "Dumbledore is setting up the floo connection through his office right now. You will be leaving shortly."

The group followed her up the stairs and into Dumbledore's office. After a few minutes of tense silence Dumbledore informed them that the connection has been set up and they would be leaving after he had a word with them.

"Now, I know that some of you," he started and faced Lily, "are blaming yourself for this. I just want you all to know that it is none of your fault. If you told us or not when you found out something would have happened. She was deep into it and it was getting worse. Last night would have happened no matter what you did. It might not have happened at that exact moment, but it would have happened." The group stayed silent either staring at the floor or their hands as Dumbledore paused.

"This is a very serious matter. If it weren't for you guys finding her she probably wouldn't have made it. You all should be proud of yourselves. In an emergency, you did not hesitate to do the right thing. You got her to the Hospital Wing as quickly as possible and got Professor McGonagall as well. That's the best thing you all could have done and you did it immediately. I for one am extremely proud of you and you should be too." The students all looked up at him and he game them a small smile which they returned.

"Now, you may go visit Miss Calyn from now until two this afternoon. That gives you six hours. Lunch will be sent to you all for I am sure you don't want the food there. Any questions? Good, meet in the front lobby at two where McGonagall or myself will meet you to bring you all back here."

One by one the six Gryffindors stumbled out of the fire place and soon found themselves outside Massie's room. Lily wasn't so sure that she could handle seeing Massie in the state that she was and she figured the others were thinking along the same lines. After what seemed like ages Shaina got enough courage to open the door and step inside. They others followed right behind her.

Lily was right. She couldn't handle it. Massie was lying on her bed with muggle IV's and other equipment attached to her. She had dark circles under her eyes and her face was paler than Remus' was during the full moon. The second she saw her Lily started crying uncontrollably. She hated seeing her best friend looking like she was dead and in a hospital bed. She wanted her to be alright, she wanted her to wake up and start laughing and saying it was all some sick joke. But no, she didn't, she just laid there motionless and almost lifeless with her faint heartbeat beating in the background.

James was immediately by Lily's side hugging her and letting her cry into his shoulder while gently rubbing her back. The group turned to face the girl before them. Shaina walked over and held Massie's hand and almost dropped it out of shock. It was freezing cold.

"Massie..." Shaina sobbed. "Why did you do this to yourself? What happened? Why didn't you come to us for help? We love you with all our hearts. All of us."

Remus stood behind her and out his hands on her shoulders while Sirius made his way to the other side of Massie and took her other hand in his. They all just stood there looking at Massie and wishing they could do something...anything.

Soon Lily had calmed down enough to see her again. James led Lily over to Massie's bed and held her to make sure she didn't collapse again.

"I wish...I wish I did something beforehand," Lily started. "I know what Dumbledore said, that this would have happened no matter what we did, but...I can't help but partially blame myself for this. I feel like I should have done more...that I could have done more." Lily started crying lightly again as was Shaina. The boys having listened to that on top of seeing Massie had tears fogging their vision. Sirius even let a few fall, though not willingly.

At two o'clock the group begrudgingly left Massie and flooed back to school. It was the last day of vacation before everyone comes back and notices that something's not right. That one of the group of Gryffindors is missing, but they knew that Dumbledore would tell the school the truth before any rumors start arising. The group made a mental note not to be there when he does. They didn't need a reminder of the terrible incident and the pain that's bound to follow for both them and her, when she has to start her recovery. Also when the truth comes out about why.

When they were safely inside their common room something dawned on Shaina. Mike didn't know, but surely Dumbledore would have thought to tell him...right?

"Uh, guys?"

"Hmm?" they murmured.

"Do you think that Mike knows?"

"Oh my gosh. I never thought about that," Lily spoke up.

"Someone should tell him...I don't think he knows. If he did then he probably would have been at St. Mungo's with us," James said thoughtfully.

"I'll tell him," Lily offered.

"No, Lils you're not in any state to tell him. You'll break down right then and there," James said truly caring.

"I'll be fine...I promise. I know him best and I'm going out with his best friend...I have to."

After a little bit more of protesting from everyone Lily won the battle and left to tell Mike. She slowly walked down the corridors somewhat dazed and preparing herself with what she was going to say. She found him on the fourth floor heading towards his common room.

"Mike!" Lily called out after him. He turned around and looked at her.

"Lily," he sighed relieved. "I've been looking for Massie all day and yesterday for that matter. Do you know where she is?"

"Uh, yes...actually that's why I'm here," Lily said looking at the ground. "She...she's in St. Mungo's."

"What!!! Why??" he exclaimed worry evident on his face and in his eyes.

"Well, you remember when Shaina asked you on Christmas if she ate or not at your brunch?" Lily asked finally looking up at him.

"Yes..." he answered timidly.

"Um...last night when Shai and I went up to our dormitory..." Lily took a deep breath before continuing. "We found Mass passed out on her bed...not breathing." Tears were silently falling from her eyes, but she ignored them and continued on. "We brought her to the Hospital Wing and Madame Pomprey said that she was severely malnourished and had burns and stuff in her stomach lining and in her throat...she...she'd been making herself puke after binge eating...that's why she never ate around us. She would sneak down to the kitchens and binge eat then...puke it up later...she's a bulimic."

Mike stood in shock and became increasingly worried by the second. "How is she now?" he managed to sputter out almost inaudibly, but Lily heard it.

"Well the good news is we found her in time and she's breathing albeit lightly. She's really pale and...well she's sort of slipped into a coma. The Healer's say that she'll be fine and should come out of her coma in a few days time."

"I can't believe I didn't figure this out...all the signs were there...all the lies and times that she would look sick...how could I be so stupid?" Mike muttered to himself, but once again Lily heard.

"She fooled us all Mike...right up to a week ago when she started avoiding us and figured out that we found out. It's not your fault...don't blame yourself, there was nothing you could do...there was nothing any of us could do...it was none of ours fault," Lily finally accepted that she had no control over what happened and pulled Mike into a hug as both silently cried for Massie and prayed for her well being.


	15. Worry

**15. Worry**

The group and Mike skipped breakfast the next day. Instead they went straight to Dumbledore's office. They waited patiently as Dumbledore informed the students of the incident. None wanting to be there to witness it, they would get enough pity as it was when classes started the following day.

When the door to Dumbledore's office opened next the kids were surprised to find not Dumbledore entering, but Massie's parents. They didn't look like they knew what was going on. They looked at the students with curious looks, but none of the group could look her parents in the eyes. After they quietly greeted each other they all sat in uncomfortable silence. The silence was broken however when Dumbledore entered the office not a minute later.

"I'm sure that you are wondering why you're here," Dumbledore said politely. The usual twinkle in his eyes was gone as he continued. "I am afraid to tell you that while you were on vacation in Greece something terrible occurred. Your daughter has been submitted to St. Mungo's…"

"WHAT?!" Massie's parents shouted at the same time.

"She stopped breathing two nights ago. Luckily she was found by Misses Evans and Ryans here before it was too late."

The two adults turned to Lily and Shaina thanking them greatly and giving each of them a hug before turning back to the professor.

"What happened to her?" Mr. Calyn inquired. Dumbledore briefly explained everything to the Calyn's before sending them to St. Mungo's to be with their daughter. He then turned towards the seven students before him.

"You may go and visit Miss Calyn in a few hours, but for now you might want to head down to the kitchens and grab a bite to eat. I do believe that you all missed your breakfast."

The group nodded before making their way to the kitchens in silence. Halfway through their walk Mike turned to the group and asked, "Do you guys mind if Jon joins us? I mean he cares about Massie and would want to be with Lily."

The group nodded their heads and Mike left to get him. Fifteen minutes went by quickly, not a word spoken, before they arrived at the kitchens. Mike hadn't returned yet. James tickled the pear and the portrait opened revealing hundreds of house elves, some of which hurried over to the students when they entered.

"Does the misses and misters want anything?" one house elf asked.

"Could you just prepare a small breakfast for each of us and two more?" Lily asked.

"Yes miss. It will be done any minute. Have a seat." The group took a seat around a small table that one of the house elves conjured up just as Mike and Jon entered. Jon immediately went up to Lily and gave her a hug and quick peck on the lips. He could see the distress in her eyes. He took a seat next to her and Mike took the empty one across the table. The five minute wait for the food was spent mostly in silence except for Jon and Lily whispering to each other every now and then. When the food came the group at a little here and there, then left a half hour later to Dumbledore's office. They knew that they were a bit too early and that it'd only been about an hour and a half since they left, but they really wanted to go and see Massie.

Dumbledore seemed to know that they were coming back early for he was waiting with the floo connection already set up. After a few quick words they stepped into the fire and flooed to the hospital. Once there they checked in and went up to Massie's room. Her parents were still in there and decided it was best if they just waited outside until her parents came out. They knew it would probably be a while so they got up and left for the waiting room on the same floor.

"How are you doing Mike? I know that it's a lot to take in," Shaina asked trying to start up a conversation. Even though she wasn't in the mood for talking or company for that matter, she just couldn't stand the silence any longer.

"I'm okay, I guess. It is a lot to take in…I still don't believe that it's true. It all just feels like a nightmare."

"You can say that again," Sirius mumbled.

"Anyway…on a more happier note, uh…I got nothing," James tried and failed miserably, and silence consumed them.

An hour later the group was able to go in and see her. Massie's parents left to talk to the Healers. They allowed Mike a bit of time with her before going in themselves. Jon was holding Lily up. It seemed that every time she saw her best friend lying in the hospital bed, helpless, she just couldn't control her emotions. Shaina wasn't doing to much better. She shook uncontrollably when she entered the room. Remus held on to her tight so as not to let her slip away. She eventually calmed down to just tears, as did Lily.

After a few hours sitting in the room talking to Massie and Remus even reading to her a bit, they had to leave. They got out of their chairs and flooed back to Dumbledore's office.

The first week back at school was torture for the six Gryffindors and two Ravenclaws. Every few minutes they would catch people staring at them with pitiful eyes, but every time they caught someone's stare the person would look away quickly and walk off or give a small smile before leaving. To say the least they all hated it…to the point that Lily snapped at a poor little second year who was just asking where the closest bathroom was. She felt a tiny bit of guilt, but was glad she got it off her chest.

But to top everything off Shaina and Lily started to slack on their work in school. They could constantly be caught spacing off in class worrying about their friend. They couldn't concentrate on their homework anymore and barely got any sleep. The both of them were becoming careless in the course of one week. The boys tried to talk to them, but they just wouldn't hear it, so they let it be for a bit. The teachers did not fail to notice that two very good students' grades were dropping. So after almost another week of it Jon and Remus decided to take the two and talk some sense in them.

After Transfiguration on that Thursday the two grabbed Shaina and Lily as they were leaving in silence. With much protesting from the girls part, the boys took them to an empty class room and sat them down.

"Now listen up you two, we don't mean to be harsh but you need to start caring about your grades again," Jon started.

"And your sleep. Both are very important and you both know that Massie wouldn't want you two to be this way," Remus continued. Both boys had pleading looks in their eyes as the girls looked down towards the floor.

"You…you don't understand…" Lily started.

"What don't we understand?! That one of _our_ best friends is in St. Mungo's in a coma while being treated for malnutrition?! Or that two people that we care just as much about, if not more, are wasting away their lives with worry?!" Remus yelled. The two girls had silent tears streaming down their faces. Shaina looked up at him.

"We can't help it…we just can't stop worrying. It's been two weeks since it happened and she still hasn't woken up." Remus moved to her wiped away some of her tears and held her close as Jon was doing for Lily.

"Shh," Jon and Remus cooed to the two upset girls. "It'll be okay. Everything will be just fine…you'll see."

"But in the mean time, try to bring your grades up. Do as Massie would want you to, don't disappoint her and your loved ones. You're both stronger than you think," Jon whispered.

The next day the group was walking out of breakfast when a fifth year Hufflepuff prefect came up to them.

"Um…Dumbledore asked me to tell you guys to meet him in his office, now."

"Thanks," they mumbled in reply before running to the headmaster's office. They knew it had to be about Massie…they just knew it. When they entered Dumbledore's office they were relived to see him smiling and had his usual twinkle back in his eyes…it was something good.

"She's awake."


	16. What Happened

**16. What Happened**

The group was gathered outside Massie's door for a minute while her parents got a few minutes to cry with their daughter and let their relief sink in. A few minutes later her parents came out with smiles on their faces and said the kids could go in and see her.

They hurried into the room with Lily and Shaina in front. Both girls had tears in their eyes as they gave their best friend a hug. Each took a turn hugging Massie and Mike took her hand in his.

"You scared the hell out of us," Lily said. Massie looked at her with an apologetic look.

"What…what happened? The last thing I remember is walking out of the bathroom," she said quietly. Her voice was scratchy from not being used for two weeks. The group looked at her seriously when she said the last bit.

"Lily and I went up to the dorm and found you unconscious on your bed and…not breathing," Shaina explained practically whispering the end. Massie looked down at her sheets, but was saved from replying when a middle aged witch walked into the room.

"I'm you guys, but I need to talk to Miss Calyn for a few minutes. Do you mind stepping out of the room for a bit?" she asked politely. The group said they didn't mind at all and left the room.

"Do you think she's going to be Massie's counselor?" Jon asked. The others nodded in reply.

"Hello Massie, I'm Mrs. Gonyea. I'll be your recovery counselor," Mrs. Gonyea held out her hand for Massie to shake.

"Um…"

"We're not as dumb as we look Miss Calyn. We figured out what caused your little mishap, we just don't know why." Massie looked everywhere but at Mrs. Gonyea's eyes. She didn't want to relive that night. Not now, not ever. " I know that you don't want to tell us, but we need to know. I'll give you some time to pluck up the courage to tell us and if you would like your young friends can be here too. I'm sure you don't want to tell the story twice."

Massie nodded and looked at Mrs. Gonyea. "Okay, but not now please. Later."

"That is perfectly fine. Now here is what I'm here to help you with…"

A week went by, and Massie's rehab was going pretty smoothly. She had yet to tell her story, but she tried her hardest to overcome her problem. She did have a lot of trouble, but that was normal at first. She could at least eat in tiny bits of food without throwing it back up. Her parents were by her side the whole time supporting her the whole way. It gave her a bit of confidence to know that everyone was there for her. She grew to like Mrs. Gonyea. She was a very nice individual and knowing. She had even told Massie her story. It turns out that she had been through the same thing when she was young, just a different reason for it. Mrs. Gonyea had become an orphan at the age of ten. Both of her parents and brother were murdered. They never found who did it either.

At the end of the week Mrs. Gonyea, Massie's parents, and all her friends entered her room. She knew what was coming. They all took seats around her bed with her parents on either side of her.

"Massie, you need to tell us what happened," Mrs. Gonyea said. Massie looked at everyone before turning her gaze to the sheets covering her.

"Okay…well…I…I was…raped…it happened just before I left on vacation…a family a few blocks down the road were having a party…"

Flashback (Massie POV) 

God this is so boring. Why can't there be anyone my age around? I mean sure there are kids, but there all either twelve or younger. Just then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around as the person, some guy, said hi. In front of me was a tall blonde haired boy who looked to be about my age. I guess I got my wish…and a pretty hot one at that.

"Hi, I'm…" I was cut off.

"Massie Calyn, I know," he interrupted. Creepy…he already knows who I am. I know for sure that I've never met him before. Yeah…maybe I should just walk away…stalkerish much? Yes, stalkerish is a word…in my book. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah…back away very slowly. "I'm Brad McFarley."

Wait a second…McFarley? That's why he knows my name…this is his house. Ha, wow I feel like a total retard. Any who. "Nice to meet you. Nice house you've got here."

"Yeah, but it's better inside. Do you like video games?"

Video games…video games…hmm wait what are those?…OH YEAH!!! Those are those muggle games that are plugged into their TVs and you play them. Well, sounds like fun. "I've never played any before."

"Really?! Come on, I've got the best ones…I can teach you," he insisted grabbing my wrist and pulling me inside. He brought me up a flight of stairs and into his room. I tried to get my wrist away when I realized where we were headed. I didn't even know him, I certainly don't want to be in his room.

When he finally let go of my wrist I tried to back away slowly so as not to be rude while saying, "Um…I'm really not comfortable being in your room. I mean not to be mean, but I don't even know you. Can't we play in your living room?"

"It's not hooked up in there. Oh come on it's just my room, nothing bad," he said getting behind me and shutting the door. Okay, now I'm really freaked. I can feel my heart pounding into my chest. I backed away from him and looked behind me. There was no game system. Only a TV. Shit! Oh Merlin please help me…come on breathe. You're just overreacting, the system is just put away. He'll go get it any second now. Oh no, he's coming closer to me…

"You're really pretty you know."

Ah, okay deep breaths. He was just trying to make me feel more comfortable…ha, right! Just the opposite. He's getting closer…and closer…and AHH! Shit I just tripped…lovely now I'm even more vulnerable. Oh Merlin, please!

He was hovering over me and reached out his hand. I took it wearily and stood up. As soon as I stood up I headed for the door, but he headed me off and blocked the door.

"Uh…can you please move?"

"Why? We haven't gotten to play yet."

"I really need to go…I just remembered that…I have to leave the party early and I'll be leaving in a few minutes."

"Well that's all it will take." The smile that had occupied his face the whole time turned into a menacing smirk and it scared the hell out of me. I started to back away again and he caught my wrist dragging me to the bed. I opened my mouth to scream, but he took out a knife and said," If you scream I'll slice your throat."

Oh Merlin…I could feel hot tears making their way down my cheeks. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!! PLEASE…I shut my eyes tight as he began to unzip his pants then proceeded to take off my clothes. Why did I leave my wand at home? I don't care if it's illegal…I'd be hexing him to know tomorrow right now. The tears are flowing down my face by the gallons. As I felt him get closer to me I squeezed my eyes tighter waiting for the inevitable, then it happened.

He was done. Finally. He had his way with me. I'm hiding in the bathroom right now. The tears are still falling down my face. I haven't been able to stop since it started. I hugged my legs close to my body and hid my face in between them. I feel ashamed. How could something like that happen? How could I let it?…I know why, he had a fucking knife to me that's how. I've been violated, and no matter how many times I wash my body, that filthy scum will always be there. It'll haunt me, just the memory of it.

Just then there was a knock on the door. "Massie, honey, are you in there?"

Oh no, it's my mother. I can't let her know. I can't let anyone know, never. I quickly wiped my tears and washed my face to rid it of the redness and puffiness from all the crying. "Yeah…I'll be out in a minute."

I looked into the mirror and felt disgusted with myself all over again…I'll always be disgusted with my reflection starting now…I never want to see myself again.

End of Flashback 

"Oh, Massie!" Mrs. Calyn exclaimed when her daughter had finished telling her story. Everyone had tears in their eyes, except for Mrs. Calyn, Lily, and Shaina who were crying openly with Massie. Mr. and Mrs. Calyn both feel somewhat responsible for what happened. If they didn't take her with them, then it wouldn't have happened. But what happened did, and now it was time to do something about it.

"Miss Calyn, would you like to press charges against this boy?" Mrs. Gonyea asked. Massie looked up from her hug and at Mrs. Gonyea. She didn't really want to. She didn't think she'd be able to handle facing him or retelling the story.

"I…I can't," she whispered.

"Massie…" Sirius spoke up. "You have to," he said a bit more forceful than he meant to.

"You can't let him get away with what he did to you," Mike added. She looked at everyone quickly before turning her head down again.

"You don't understand…I can't face him…I just can't." Tears were starting to pour down her face once more.

"Come on Mass. You'll never be able to get passed this if you don't," James said.

"Please Massie. Do it for yourself. Get your confidence back," Shaina said.

"I…I…I don't know."

"Merlin Mass! Just do it! For goodness sake! Stop torturing yourself! If you don't do it, then you're going to be living your life in regret! Regretting the fact that you could have at least tried to do something to stop everything! To put the kid behind bars! To allow yourself some peace!" Lily broke down. She couldn't hold it in. Why couldn't Massie just put the kid to trial? At least try to get him behind bars. To prevent him from harming anyone else like he did her.

Massie just stared at her friend wide eyed like everyone else in the room. Lily's eyes were filling with tears. Her face showed her frustration at her friend's ignorance openly. She didn't care that she just yelled at her sick friend, she was only knocking some sense into her head.

After a long silence that seemed to drag on, Massie finally opened her mouth and said," Okay…I'll do it."


	17. A Nighttime Stroll and the Case

**17. A Nighttime stroll and The Case**

Massie's state was improving a bit, she met with her counselor everyday and started eating food in small portions without throwing it up most of the time. Though she was still in St. Mungo's and under the cautious eye's of all the Healers, her friends still worried about her. In a few weeks she would be released and allowed to go back to her classes as long as she kept improving and her friends made sure that she ate and kept it down, but her court date was set and soon approaching also.

Shaina and Lily were able to bring their grades up for the most part. They were able to concentrate on things now that they knew Massie was improving. They still worried from time to time, but they didn't let it control them.

It was a Saturday night in late January now, the court date was scheduled to be the next day and the whole group of Massie's friends were going to support her. Shaina and Lily were just finishing their homework for the weekend, because of the court date. Shaina soon got bored and asked Lily if she wanted to take a walk around outside.

"We can't Shai…it's past curfew and…"

"Oh come on Lily…with all that's gone on I need some fresh air and I want to take a late night stroll, but not by myself," Shaina gave Lily her puppy eyes. Lily looked wary at first, but gave in a minute later. She could never say no to Shaina's puppy dog eyes and pout…for that Lily hated her.

Once they got outside, they headed towards the lake and took a walk around. About halfway around the lake Lily looked in the sky when something registered in her brain. It was a full moon and Remus would sure be about. Just then a howl sounded not too far away from where they were. Frightened, Lily grabbed Shaina's wrist and started running back towards the castle. They were at least ten minutes from the castle even at a full out sprint and Lily was sure that Remus had caught their scent and was now heading their way. And sure enough a minute later there was the distinct sound of something running their way. Shaina caught on to what was happening and fear took over her. Both of their hearts were racing as they heard the werewolf following them speed up. They were already running full out, and Lily could tell Remus was gaining on them. She took a risk and looked behind her to see just how close he was to them. Just as she was about to turn her head, Remus came into view not 25 yards behind them. Knowing that they couldn't outrun the werewolf, they quickly climbed up a tall tree on the outside of the forest.

The werewolf stopped at the base of the tree and looked up at them. Just when they thought they would be safe and the werewolf was going to give up, it dug its claws into the tree and started to pull itself up the tree

"Now what do we do?" Shaina asked Lily in a panic. Her face had a look of terror on it. They were both sure that the werewolf, whom Lily knew was Remus, would get them now.

Lily looked down at the werewolf below them and saw a brilliant white stag and a big bear like black dog come into view and jumped to tackle the werewolf before it could get far up the tree. Lily turned her head in all directions looking for a way to escape. Then she saw it. To her left was another tree that was close enough for them to jump to. Remus had escaped the dog and stag's grasp and started climbing the tree after them again.

"Come on," Lily said urgently, grabbing Shaina's wrist and pulling her in the direction of the other tree. Slowly they made their way as far out on the branch as they could go. "We have to jump to that branch there." Lily pointed to the branch closest to them on the next tree over.

"Are you crazy?"

"Do you want to live?"

She nodded. Then Lily said, "Okay then. You go first." Shaina slowly stood up, wrapping her hands tightly around the branch above her to balance herself. She counted to three then jumped. Lily watched her as she safely made it to the next branch and moved over towards the trunk of the tree.

It was Lily's turn. She held onto the branch and carefully placed her feet on the branch. She slowly stood up. The branch started to shake under her weight, so she grabbed the same one above her that Shaina had.

"Lily!" Shaina yelled at Lily frantically, pointing below her. Lily looked down and saw Remus just 10 feet below her. She steadied herself once more and prepared to jump. Remus eagerly raised his claw towards Lily's ankle just as she jumped.

Lily barely made it to the branch. She thought her heart had stopped. It was a close call. Remus almost got her ankle. She looked back and saw he was now raising himself onto the branch she had just jumped from. Quickly she got to the trunk of the tree and started to climb down.

Remus prepared himself to jump after them. Lily stopped and watched as if in slow motion. Remus jumped and landed on the branch but as he landed, his weight broke the branch. He tumbled down the tree, hitting many branches on his way, some breaking, some not. Finally, he hit the ground.

Shaina and Lily stared at the motionless Remus lying on the ground below. Lily was panicking…what if Remus is seriously hurt? Shaina had no clue it was Remus and just cared about getting back to the castle safely. The dog went to the aid of the werewolf while the stag looked up at Lily and Shaina, who were once again climbing down the tree as quickly as possible, and waited for them. When they got to the bottom branch they jumped down and landed with a thud and hit the ground five feet from Remus. Lily was about to go see if he was still breathing when the stag got in front of them and bent down allowing them to get on it's back. Lily and Shaina exchanged a quick glance with each other before climbing onto the stag's back. It immediately took off and Lily couldn't help but turn around and look at Remus. To her relief and slight panic he started to stir.

When they reached the castle doors Shaina and Lily jumped off the stag's back and went inside as it turned around to join the dog and now up and about Remus, by the edge of the forest.

"Oh…my…gosh," Shaina managed to sputter as the two girls cautiously made their way back to Gryffindor tower. Lily was too busy thinking to respond.

Why was there a dog and stag with Remus? It's kind of an odd grouping I must say. Maybe they're his friends. I remember reading somewhere that animals can't be turned into a werewolf. Or maybe…nah…they wouldn't. Would they? They do seem to always end up being really tired the day after the full moon. And they go to 'bed' early each full moon. But I can't believe they would. Well, actually I can. But how could they be soo stupid? It is the Marauders you're talking about. Oh yeah. Self explanatory.

Hmm…but who was who? Their nicknames! It must be for what they change into! Moony is Remus…werewolf, duh. Padfoot is Sirius…he must have been that big black dog. Figures. Prongs is James…oh my gosh! He was that beautiful stag. I can't believe it! Oh yes you can. It does match him. But what about Peter. His name is Wormtail. Ew, is he a rat?? That would explain why I didn't see him there. He'd be too small to notice in a rush. But ew! Rats are gross! Well, lets just keep that thought to myself. I don't want to offend him or anything. It's a miracle he even pulled it off really. I don't think I would be able to personally.

Lily's eyes widened bit by bit as she realized more and more of who the animals really were. They had finally reached the tower without being delayed once, luckily. Both girls silently made their way to their dormitory each thinking about a different thing.

The courtroom was filled with Massie's family and friends on her side and Brad's family on his side. But Lily noticed someone else. She was in the back of the room on Massie's side. She had dark brown hair that hung in loose waves to her mid back. She was very pretty and Lily wondered why she was there. She was just about to get up and ask when the judge came in, so she sat back down and listened intently to the trial. The defendant was up first. Massie was called to the stand.

"Miss Calyn, would you tell the court what happened? Please include when and where as well," the defendant asked after Massie was sworn in and sitting down.

"It was July 7th at night. My parents and I were invited to my father's bosses house for a party…the McFarley's house," Massie answered trying to keep her cool. She would soon be telling the whole court what happened.

"So this was at my client's house, yes?"

"Yes."

"Now what happened when you got there?"

"Well at first I didn't see anyone my age there, so I was just standing there. Bored, but then someone tapped on my shoulder. I turned around and he was there."

"Who was there?"

"B-Brad was."

"And then?"

"Well I was about to introduce myself, but he cut me off and said 'Massie Calyn, I know'. Then he asked if I liked video games after introducing himself. I answered that I've never played before. So he grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside saying that I had to play." Massie paused, she could feel the tears at the brim of her eyes.

"Please continue Miss Calyn."

Massie nodded slightly before continuing. "I thought that we'd be in the living room, but when I saw that we were going upstairs I tried to pull away. When we got to his room…I stopped at the door and asked why we couldn't play downstairs. He said that the system wasn't hooked up down there and somehow managed to get behind me and shut the door. I started to back away from him but he kept coming on. I tried again to get out when he said that I was pretty, but he's quicker than me. I had realized just then that there was…there was no game system in the room…I started to panic and didn't see that there was something behind me and I tripped over it."

She paused again and took a deep breath before continuing. "When I got back up I asked him to move so I could leave. He asked me why and said we haven't even gotten to play yet. I made up some lie about how I had to leave early in like a few minutes, then he said that was all it would take. He started to smile at me, but not a normal smile…it was like…a sadistic…smile. It made me nervous. I back away again and he…he grabbed me and…he pulled me to his bed…when I tried to scream he…he pulled out…a…knife and said that he would…he would cut my throat if I screamed."

"And then?"

Massie was now full out crying. "He…he….raped me."

"And when he was undressing himself, why didn't you try to run?"

"I was scared! He had a knife to me! What was I supposed to do?"

"Enough," the judge said. "Miss Calyn, are you okay to continue with the cross examination?"

Massie nodded and her lawyer stood up to question her.

"I won't make you repeat the story," she said. "I just want to know a few things. First, what was going through your head when he knew your name before you told him?"

"At first, I was a bit freaked out. Then when he told me his name I figured that since he was the host's son that he needed to know the names of all the guests."

"How did you feel when you realized that you were headed upstairs?"

"I started to panic and tried to pull my wrist away, but he had a tight grip."

"And one more question. After he was done where did you go?"

"I grabbed my clothes, put them on, and ran to the bathroom down the hall…an-and cried," Massie finished sobbing. Her lawyer turned and sat back down as the judge told Massie she could leave and sit back down.

"Who are you calling next to the stand?" the judge asked the Brad's lawyer.

"Brad McFarley." Brad was led up to the stand and sworn in by the officer. His lawyer got up to question him.

"In your words tell the court what happened the night of July 7th."

"My parents were having a party, you know those boring business parties that is crowded with adults and their children. I didn't expect there to be anyone my age there, but then I learned that Massie would be," he started. "Once the party had been going on for about a half hour I saw the only girl my age standing out in the open. I figured that it was Massie, so I went up to her to start a conversation. After a while I asked her if she wanted to go inside and play some video games. She'd never played before so I took her inside and showed her some in my room."

"Was the door open?"

"Yes."

"There was a game station set up in your room, correct?"

"Yes."

"What happened when you started playing?"

"She started flirting with me. You know the usual light shove saying something like 'oh you cheated' or something like that. Then after a little while she leaned in to kiss me. I backed away saying 'I don't really know you', but she kept trying anyway." Massie was appalled. That isn't what happened. She looked back at her friends and they all had looks of anger. Sirius was the worst though. He had his hands balled into fists like he was ready to just jump up and punch Brad in the face. She felt the same way. "After a few more attempts I decided that she needed to leave. It was making me uncomfortable. She got up with a few protests and curses, and left."

"Thank you, that is all I have."

"Ms. Zaymers," the judge nodded to Massie's lawyer. She got up and approached the stand.

"What was it that you two talked about while still outside?"

"The usual stuff. What school we go to, our classes, friends, what we like to do, sports, etc."

"Mhmm, and why did you play in your room?"

"That's where my game system was all hooked up."

"Don't you think that it would be a little uncomfortable for her to be in some guys room that she barely knows?"

"I didn't think she would care."

"Why didn't you just bring your game into your living room?"

"My dad doesn't like me playing my games there."

"I'm sure he wouldn't have minded that one time, especially if you were just entertaining a guest," she paused for a brief moment, gathering her thoughts. "Why is it that you were bothered by her trying to kiss you?"

"I didn't know her."

"Even after spending all that time outside getting to know her better?"

"I still felt like I didn't know her enough. I had just met her just hours before."

"But you felt like you knew her enough to bring her into your bedroom."

"I didn't need to know her that well to play a video game with her."

"I see. That is all," she turned to the judge and said.

The trial went on for another hour with both Brad and Massie's parents being put on the stand and questioned about their child's behavior and such. The judge called for a quick fifteen minute recess so that the jury could come up with a decision.

Massie went over to see her friends giving them each a hug and Mike a quick kiss.

"Thank you guys so much for coming. It means a lot to me. I don't think I would have been able to do this without you guys."

"We're glad to be here with you. We would never make you do this on your own without our support. We're always here for you," Lily said pulling Massie into another hug. Lily looked behind Massie and saw the girl from earlier coming towards them. She let go of Massie just before the girl tapped on her shoulder. Massie turned around and looked at the girl.

"Hi, my name is Crissy Litario. I just wanted to tell you how brave I think you are," the girl said.

"Sorry, but why?"

"Two years ago I was victim to Brad's…uh…well you know. I was too afraid and ashamed of what happened to let anyone know. Therefore he won, I let him get away with it. I just want to let you know that no matter the outcome, you really won the battle. You didn't let fear of him overpower you like I did. You exposed him for what he truly is and even if he gets away with it you let him know that he can't do this to women and get away without a scratch. You fought back." Massie looked at the girl with respect. She didn't pity her for what happened. She respected her for putting this all into perspective for her. Then next thing she knew she had the girl in a friendly hug with tears threatening to spill.

"Thank you," was all that Massie whispered before letting Crissy go and heading back to her place as the judge came back with her decision.

The courtroom quieted down and the judge stood up and said, "I have the jury's decision right here, but first I would like to say something. It's these cases that really make my job hard. It disgusts me how one person could do such a thing to another. Rape is not to be taken lightly. Not only does it physically harm the victim, but emotionally too. Anyone who has gone through what this girl here has had to go through has my gratitude and praise for going on with their lives. Now, I am terribly sorry to say that without physical evidence and no witnesses that there really is no decision to make. The defendant is found not guilty. But I will do this. I am filing a restraining order. If Brad McFarley comes within a hundred yards of Ms. Calyn here, and that includes her home, he will be put on probation. If it happens twice you will be thrown in jail for no less than three years. Do I make myself clear?"

The McFarley's nodded. "Then case dismissed."

Everyone in the court stood up. Massie made her way slowly to her friends, but not before catching Crissy's eye. Crissy gave her a small, sad smile before leaving the courthouse.

"I'm so sorry Mass," Shaina said as she pulled her into a hug.

"No don't be," Massie replied releasing Shaina. "Crissy was right. I exposed him for what he truly is. I won."


	18. Valentine's Day

**18. Valentine's Day**

The week following the court date Massie's condition improved greatly. She was eating regularly now and was doing great. Lily realized something though. She didn't like Jon as much as she thought, not in a romantic way anyway. So she broke it off with him. He understood and agreed. They remained good friends though. It was that same week that Lily started having feelings for James. She didn't know why, but all of a sudden she longed to be around James.

Shaina and Remus spent more time with each other. Now that the whole thing with Massie was calming down they found more time to be alone with each other. Rarely was one seen without the other.

The best part of it all being over was that the marauders had set up a prank. The first one in a long time. They had it planned so that they were going to pull it a week before Valentine's Day.

"So, when is this prank going to take place?" Massie asked at breakfast the morning of the February 7th.

"Oh, you'll see soon enough," Sirius replied.

Five minutes later there was a loud bang at the Slytherin table. Snape was standing on top of the table with a large bowl of some sort of cereal. It was when he broke into a short song that everyone realized what cereal it was.

"FROSTED FLAKES ARE MORE THAN GOOD…THEY'RE GREAT!" He finished raising the bowl of cereal in the air. When he finished there was another loud bang and he was in a tiger costume with a red bandana around the neck, along with all the other Slytherins. The Great Hall burst into laughter as the Slytherins glared at the Marauders, then left the Great Hall with Professor Slughorn.

"Detention! The four of you all week!! And 10 points from Gryffindor each!" McGonagall yelled at them as she passed by to help Professor Slughorn get the Slytherins out of the hall.

"OKIE DOKIE MINNIE!!!! WE KNEW YOU MISSED US!!" Sirius shouted after her.

Lily woke up on Valentine's Day morning to find Massie and Shaina staring at her with smiles on their faces.

"What?" Lily asked, but her question was answered by them pointing to the floor. She looked over the edge of her bed and gasped. Written across the floor in front of her bed in white lilies was:

_Will you go to Hogsmeade with me, Lily Flower?_

_-James_

"Eek!" she screeched like a little school girl succeeding in waking up their two other roommates Alice and Marissa. She got up, changed quickly, then ran down stairs to the common room. Towards the bottom she slowed down to catch her breath. She saw James standing by the fireplace nervously looking around. It looked cute, to her at least and probably many other girls. She snuck up on him and yelled out boo! He turned around quickly and as he did so she jumped on him giving him a big hug while saying yes. A grin spread across his face as he hugged her back.

Lily let go of James and said, "Yes James, I will go to Hogsmeade with you."

James was elated to say the least. He felt like he was floating, like it was all a dream, but it wasn't and for that he was happy. They waited in the common room, just talking, for their friends to finish getting ready. When everyone was ready they all headed down to breakfast together.

When they arrived in the Great Hall, Massie separated from the group and walked over to Mike.

"So, who are you going to Hogsmeade with?" Remus asked Sirius and Peter when they sat down.

"I'm going with Riley," Sirius answered.

"Farper? The fifth year?" Lily asked curiously. Sirius nodded his head. "She's nice, from what I've heard of her. I haven't really gotten a chance to speak to her before."

"She is," Sirius said. "So what about you Pete?"

"Uh…well…I asked that Hufflepuff, Isla Titan. She said…yes," Peter answered shyly.

"I know her. She's pretty," Shaina complimented before turning to Remus.

The mail arrived halfway through breakfast. An owl dropped a letter and a bouquet of flowers in front of Shaina. She looked at Remus and grinned before eagerly opening the letter. She read through it with tears coming to her eyes. The were happy tears though. She dropped the letter on the table and threw herself at Remus, kissing him on the lips passionately. They continued to be preoccupied by each other, whispering back and forth. Massie took this opportunity to grab the note and read it. It read:

_Shai,_

_You have no idea how happy I am that we are together and for almost two months now. I've been waiting three years for me to get enough courage to ask you out and be able to spend Valentine's Day with you. I feel like my life is complete knowing that I have you. I know that its soon, but I love you and I always will._

_Love,_

Remus 

"Aww," Lily cooed.

"That's so cute!" Massie nodded in agreement. At these statements Shaina and Remus broke apart. Shaina grinned as Remus looked away blushing.

"Remy is turning into a sap," Sirius teased.

"Nice going Moony…you sound like me," James gave him a pat on the back. Remus blushed again and turned away from his friends back to Shaina.

After breakfast, the group was joined by Mike, Isla, and Riley. At the carriages the group split in half, taking two down to the station.

When they exited the carriages they agreed to meet at them again to head back around four. They all went their separate ways until it was just Lily and James left. James looked down to the ground nervously shuffling his feet. Lily looked at him and smiled. He looked so cute when he was nervous. She grabbed his hand in hers and smiled at him when he looked up at her. He returned the smile and seemed to gain his confidence back. He pulled her off away from the carriages and towards Hogsmeade.

"Where to first?" he asked as they walked down the village hand in hand.

"I don't know," Lily replied as she looked around at all the happy couples enjoying the day. James looked at her with a smile across his face. Nothing could ruin this day for him.

"Come on, just pick somewhere. You're the lady, you get to choose."

"I don't know James…and I could keep this up all day if you want me to," Lily replied with a smirk. Her stubbornness paid off at times. James looked at her and sighed.

"Fine…lets go to…" he thought for a minute before deciding. "Lets go to this new restaurant that just opened up. It's called Girundy's. I heard that it was really good."

Lily laughed as they walked off towards the restaurant. James making stupid comments here and there.

Remus put his hands over Shaina's eyes and lead her down a path towards the Shrieking Shack. He'd had her eyes covered for a few minutes now and they were almost at their destination.

"Remy…" Shaina whined with her hands out in front of her. She trusted Remus to guide her, but she still put her hands out…just in case. "Are we almost there?"

Remus chuckled slightly. "Yes, just a second more…we're here." He uncovered her eyes and watched her face as it lit up. A huge smile spread across her face and her eyes widened. She turned to Remus and gave him the biggest hug she could manage.

"Oh my gosh, this is amazing," she gushed as she let go of her boyfriend. She wondered how she got so lucky to get such a great guy. Before her was a picnic set up for two just outside the Shrieking Shack. She remembered how she once told him that the place fascinated her and how she loved to go there on Hogsmeade trips. She grabbed Remus' hand and ran the short length to the set up. When she got there she sat down and motioned for Remus to take a seat next to her. He laughed lightly at her excitement and took a seat.

Massie and Mike entered Honeydukes laughing. They walked around the store hand in hand looking at all the candy. Massie had suggested they go there first, as she had a craving for some chocolate. They looked around at all the different chocolates. There were Chocolate Frogs, Mountain Mint Chocolates, etc. Massie could decide between Chocolate frogs or Walt's White Wonder (white chocolate).

"Which one should I get?" she asked Mike holding up the two choices. Mike scrutinized before answering.

"Walt's White Wonder…then you can share with me," Mike replied with a cheeky grin. Massie gave him an exasperated look, but smiled all the same.

"Fine…I guess I could share." She walked up to the counter to pay, but Mike put his money down first.

"It's Valentine's Day…the least I could do," he said. Massie smiled as they left the shop.

Sirius walked down the streets with Riley. He looked down at her and saw her smiling up at him. "What?," he asked touching his face. "Do I have something on my face?"

She laughed and shook her head. "No, its just…well, I'm glad that you asked me to go with you." She blushed slightly and looked away. Sirius stopped walking and put his hand under her chin lifting it up to face him. He bent over slightly and kissed her softly on the lips. When he pulled away she smiled up at him.

"I'm glad I asked you too," Sirius smiled back and they continued to walk down the street. "So, where would you like to go first milady?"

She thought for a second before answering. "How about…Zonko's?" Sirius looked down at her grinning.

"Are you sure? I could take hours in there?"

"Of course! What? Do you not think that I don't pull the occasional prank here and there?" she grinned mischievously back at him. He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked before pulling her off towards the store.

(A/N-I'm not going to be going through Peter's date…I don't like him…he's just there for effect, as he is one of the Marauders…)

James and Lily walked into Girundy's together hand in hand. At first sight Lily's eyes widened and her mouth dropped slightly. It was amazing inside. The lighting was dim, but still enough to be able to see perfectly fine. There was a smell of incense when you stepped in the doorway. Each table was decorated in light colors (mostly reds, pinks, and light purples and blues). In the center of each table there was a vase with a single red rose. Lily was in awe. She'd never seen a more beautiful place or set up.

James looked down at Lily and seeing her face made him happy. They walked up to the concierge and James said, "Table for two."

The concierge smiled at the two. "You are cute couple," she complemented before grabbing two menus and seating them at a table. She handed each of them a menu and said, "Your waiter will be right with you."

When the concierge left James looked at Lily smiling and asked, "So, how do you like the place?"

"It's gorgeous!" she grinned at James before opening her menu. "I never expected it to be this amazing."

"Well, we get new surprises everyday," James grinned back. "Speaking of surprises…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He handed it over to her. "This is for you."

"Aw, James you didn't have to…wait, when did you get this? You only asked me today," Lily looked at James curiously.

James grinned. "Well, I was hoping that you'd say yes. Besides, even if you said no…I still would have given it to you."

"James you really didn't have to, this is awfully nice of you," she said before opening the box slowly. She gasped as she looked inside. Before her was a set of beautiful white gold earrings. In the center of each was a small, heart-shaped emerald that glimmered in the dim lighting of the restaurant.

"I love it!" she exclaimed getting up out of her seat and giving him a hug and kiss. James gave her a goofy grin as she sat back down.

Shaina leaned back against Remus as they enjoyed a picnic together. "I sill can't believe you remembered how much I liked this place, and all the effort you put into this," Shaina sighed happily as Remus fed her a strawberry.

"Eh, anything for you…and of course I remembered, its something we share in common. I feel…connected to this place," Remus smiled secretly, knowing she wasn't looking at him. He still had to tell her about his lycanthropy. He just found it harder and harder to do as they got closer, he didn't want to end up breaking her heart…or his own. But he promised himself that he would do it soon, just not today. Today was a special day.

Shaina smiled up at him and gave him a quick kiss. Remus, wanting more, kissed her again and more deeply. They kissed a few more times before turning back to the set up before them.

Remus got up and headed over towards a bush that was up against the shack. Shaina looked at him curiously as he reached behind it and pulled out a rather large box with a few holes in it. Her eyes lit up when she heard a small bark coming from inside.

"Oh, Remus…you shouldn't have," she smiled at him as he handed her the box. She opened it slowly and peeked inside. She gasped as she looked into the eyes of a small golden puppy. "It is so cute!"

Remus grinned and said, "Actually it's a she. What do you want to name her?"

Shaina smiled at him and gave him another kiss before returning to the puppy. "I'll name her…Raja…like the tiger from that muggle movie 'Aladdin'. I love that movie and the tiger…" She grinned again and lifted the puppy from the box and setting her on her lap.

"Raja…" Remus repeated, then smiled. "I like it."

The rest of the day, the couples all spent their time with each other. Each one having a fun day. At four o'clock the groups met up at the carriages. While the girls gushed over each others gifts in one carriage, the boys took turns telling each other about their days in another. When they arrived back at the school, they went into the Great Hall for an early supper before heading off to their common rooms.


	19. A Weekend Home

**19. A Weekend Home**

A week after Valentine's Day Massie was packing her bags for the weekend. It was her father's birthday that Saturday and she and Mike were going to spend the weekend at her house. She had just packed her last item and closed her bag as Lily and Shaina entered the room.

"Hey, you done yet?" Shaina asked when they came in. She sat down on the edge of Massie's bed with Lily standing next to her.

"Yeah, just finished as you came in," Massie replied taking a seat next to Shaina. "What have you two been doing? Snogging your boyfriends?" She smirked at them.

"Maybe, then again maybe not. But that is not the matter at hand," Lily said with a quick glance at Shaina before looking back at Massie. Massie suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable. Something was wrong and she didn't like being stared at like she was some sort of freak.

"What?" she asked timidly, not knowing if she wanted her question to be answered or not.

"Well, Lily and I…we just wanted to know if you really want to do this…" Shaina answered quietly looking intently at Massie.

"Why wouldn't I to?" Massie asked slowly looking back and forth at her two friends, wondering what was up.

"You know why…we just want to make sure that you're ready to go back to that area in general," Lily said. It clicked in Massie what they meant. To be truthful, she hadn't even thought of it…not since the trial. He was under a restraining order…she was safe now, right? Even though he could always break it, she would be with Mike…that's all that matters. He'd protect her.

Massie started to worry slightly. What if she was alone? What if Mike wasn't with her and Brad just happen to show up and do something? She could feel a sweat break out…she didn't want to think of it. She looked up at her friends and gave them a smile. "Yeah, of course I'm ready. I'll be fine…don't worry. Mike will be with me."

Lily and Shaina exchanged another small glance and nodded their heads. "Okay, if you're sure…"

"I'm sure. Now let's go have some girl time before I leave. I'm not going to see you two for a whole weekend…it's going to kill me," she smiled and took a seat on the floor, Shaina and Lily following suit and sitting next to her.

An hour and a half later the three girls descended the stairs. Massie had to leave in half an hour and she wanted to say good-bye to the boys before meeting Mike in Dumbledore's office. They entered the common room to find the four Marauders sitting around the fire and chatting. The girls walked over to them and Lily tapped James on the shoulder.

James looked up and saw the three girls. He stood up and gave Lily a quick hug and kiss before turning to Massie. "Mass, have fun," he said going to give her a hug as well.

Massie made a face and backed away. "Nope, no hug for Jamie…you just hugged Lils…I don't need a disease just before I go home," she joked and smirked at Lily.

Lily mocked hurt and put her hand over her heart. "That hurt Mass…real deep," she frowned and ran after her friend. Massie screamed and ran away yelling at her friend.

"Get away! No! I don't want to die! I don't want your disease! You evil!"

"Oh, come on…you love me! Besides, I'll just get you later…when you get back…and you're sleeping!" Lily yelled back laughing. She caught up to Massie and tackled her to the ground. Both were laughing as Massie kept yelling.

"Ah! No! No! Stop it! I don't want your disease!" Lily started to tickled attack her friend while the others just watched laughing. Shaina was on the floor laughing, glad that it wasn't her…usually it would be.

"Ok! Ok! I give up! I surrender to your madness! I'll give you and Jamie a hug…just stop tickling me!" Massie surrendered and Lily grinned, getting up off her friend and helping her up.

"Will you stop calling me Jamie?" James put his hands on his hips, very girlish like and glared at Massie.

"No…it's your girl name…and those hands on your hips are not helping your case," Massie replied hugging Lily. She let go as James took his hands off his hips and pouted. "Aw, see, there you go acting like a girl again…" She noticed that Shaina had been laughing at them and she smirked. "Oh don't think you're off the hook…I'll get you when you least expect it…just for laughing."

Shaina's eyes widened and her mouth dropped with a frightened look. "No! You wouldn't….please!" she begged and backed away slightly.

"Oh, not right now darling, as I've got to be going, but one day…when you least expect it," she grabbed her friend and hugged her good-bye. She hugged each of the boys after and departed from the group.

"Damn, I miss her already," Lily said, making a face and sitting on the couch five minutes later. James took a seat next to her, while the others sat back down on the floor. He put an arm around her and kissed her on the cheek.

"She'll be back in two days…I think you'll survive," Sirius teased her.

Lily glared at Sirius and stuck her tongue out at him. "No, I won't. I'll miss her too much." She leaned back against James and cuddled into him.

Shaina and Remus leaned up against the couch and held onto each other while Sirius and Peter were just sitting on the floor not really paying attention to the couples.

"I need to talk to you," Remus said to Shaina. She looked up at him worried. What did he want? Was he going to break up with her? Apparently it was obvious that she thought he didn't like her anymore because he said, "It's nothing like that…don't worry. I just need to tell you something."

Lily looked down at Remus at that with wide eyes. He was finally going to tell her, wasn't he? She smiled and looked at the others. They all seemed to be thinking the same thing, with smiles on their faces as they knew that he should tell her sooner rather than later.

Massie stumbled out of the fire with Mike just behind her. They put their bags down next to the couch and walked into the kitchen. "Mom! Dad! We're here!" Massie yelled up the stairs. She heard a shuffling of feet and soon her parents were downstairs with grins and greeted the couple.

"Oh honey! It's so great to see you!" her mother engulfed her into a hug.

"Mom-can't-breathe," she smiled as her mother let go of her and turned to Mike giving him a hug as well. Mr. Ryans shook hands with Mike before pulling him into a manly hug, then moving onto his daughter and lifting her up into the air. He spun her around once and put her back down.

"It's nice to see you too Dad," Massie grinned. She hadn't realized how much she truly missed them while at school until now. She was glad to be home, even if it was only for a weekend.

Remus was nervous, to say the least. He had no idea what Shaina's reaction to be and he was afraid to know. One part of him says it'll all be okay, but the other part (that seems to have more influence) thinks that it'll end in their break-up and he didn't want that. He'd waited too long for this relationship and he was going to do anything to keep it. It was five minutes of eleven and he was pacing in front of the fire in the common room. Shaina was supposed to meet him there at eleven. James and Sirius had gotten everyone else out of the room for him, so they didn't have to sneak around.

Four more minutes of pacing and Remus looked at the clock, it was almost time. He thought more than once of backing out, but he knew that it was now or never and it certainly couldn't be never…no matter how much he wished it could be. He looked up when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Shaina entered the room in her pajama bottoms and a tank top. Her hair was in a messy bun on top of her head. Remus couldn't help but think she was beautiful, even when she was ready for bed.

"Hey Remus…what did you want to talk about?" she smiled at him before kissing him lightly on the lips.

"You might want to sit for this," he warned her. She took a seat on the couch and Remus took the spot next to her. She was getting curious as to what was up with him, she was beginning to get a bit anxious just waiting. Whatever she was expecting, it wasn't what came out of his mouth next. "I'm just going to get straight to the point. There's something about me that you deserve to know…that you need to know," he started. Taking a deep breath and exhaling it, he was ready. "Once a month, I'm not myself…every full moon I turn into a…beast."

Shaina's heart started to beat faster as she realized what he was talking about. "You-you're a were-werewolf?" she stuttered. She didn't mean for it to come out the way it did…like she was frightened, but she couldn't help it. It was hard for her to digest. Her mind flashed back to the night with Lily on the grounds…when they were attacked. She didn't know that it was Remus that was the werewolf. She didn't even think it was a student at all, just somebody from the town that traveled too far.

Now, she knew the truth though. It was Remus the whole time…her throat seemed to close up on her and she couldn't breath. She couldn't think straight as the tear sprang to her eyes. This was what Remus was afraid of. He should have known that she never would accept him for the monster he truly is. He tore his gaze away from her and stared out the window in the opposite direction. He refused to cry, but he had to say something. "I-I understand that you don't want to be with me anymore…I-I'll just go now," he swallowed and stood up.

Shaina ran after him and caught him just before he got to the stairs. She pulled him around to face her and she threw her arms around him. She never wanted to let go. She wasn't crying because she was scared. Just after her brain realized what he said and had processed it, she felt bad. She didn't want her Remus to have to go through such a horrible thing every month. It wasn't his fault and it wasn't fair to him. "No! Don't go," she sobbed into his shoulder. "I would never want you to go, please…don't leave me."

Massie was tired of being cooped up in the house. It was getting stuffy in there. She made her way through the crowd of people, butt was stopped by Mike when she got to the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked pulling her around to face him. "It's dark outside."

"I know. I just need some fresh air…alone for a minute," she gave Mike a smile before turning around and leaving the house.

She made her way over to the only tree in her front yard which had a swing hanging from a thick branch. She took a seat on the swing and smiled, rocking herself back and forth slowly with her feet still touching the ground. It was her favorite place to be at home when she wanted to be alone.

She looked out across the street where the sidewalk was lit up only by the street lamps. It was late, her house was the only one on the block with its lights still on. Her father's birthday was a smash. All his colleagues and friends were there celebrating. Her and Mike were the only two kids. She felt bad for leaving Mike inside, especially since he doesn't know anyone, but she needed to be alone for a bit.

She looked up from the ground, which she didn't notice she was studying until that moment, as she heard a noise. A figure was walking around the corner. Her heart started to beat faster as she thought of who could possible be out at this hour.

Then she saw him. The face that haunted her dreams for months. The person who got away. The one who wasn't supposed to be anywhere near here. Brad.

She tried to stand up and get back in the house, but her feet wouldn't move. She was frozen in fear. He looked directly at her and sneered before looking around to double check that no one else was around.

He sauntered over to her with a smirk. "Well, look who it is…just the person I've been looking for." Massie fought back the tears and swallowed hard before answering.

"Get away," she said in a dangerously low voice. "You're not supposed to be here."

"And what are you going to do about it?" She opened her mouth to yell out, but Brad was quick. He put his hand over her mouth and stood behind her. He leaned his head in so it was next to her eat. With his other hand he took out a knife-the knife he had used that night.

"Remember this?" he whispered into her ear sadistically. He brought the knife up to her neck and she couldn't help it this time-she started to cry. "So you do. I know I do. You were great you know."

Massie closed her eyes and cried some more. _Oh God…_she tried to scream out, but he tightened his grip over her mouth and touched the knife harder into her neck, but without cutting it quite yet. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Now, the reason I am here…revenge. You, little bitch, ruined my life. Just because you couldn't handle a little fun."

Just then the door began to open. Brad let go of his grip on her and ran, but not before whispering, "I'll be back." The door opened the rest of the way and Mike poked his head out. "Massie! Your father's about to…" he looked over and saw her crumpled into a ball on the ground by the tree swing. He ran over to her and cradled her in his arms. "Massie? What's wrong?"


	20. Realization

**20. Realization**

Massie fell into Mike's arms and they just sat there, Massie crying into his shirt. After a few minutes of them being out there the door to the house opened, revealing a worried looking Mrs. Calyn. The older woman looked to where Massie and Mike sat and rushed over to the teenagers. "Massie, hunny, what's wrong?" she asked upon seeing her daughter crying. The woman knelt down beside the two teens and took Massie from Mike. She cradled her daughter lovingly, stroking her hair softly and rocking her back and forth. "Shh.. it'll all be okay. Just tell us what happened."

Massie choked on her tears and looked up at the two before her. She brought her hand to her face and wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. Her heart was still pounding from the incident and she didn't know if she could tell them yet, but she would try. She took a deep, shaky breath and could only manage to choke out one word. "Brad," was all that could come out before she dissolved back into tears.

* * *

A month passed since the incident at Massie's home, and she was back in the care of St. Mungo's. No matter how hard the girl tried, she couldn't bring herself to eat anything after it. She was scared, no, she was terrified of something happening again. They'd been able to lock him up in jail for breaking the restraining order, but it was only for a year. She couldn't help but think about what was going to happen after that year ended. She'd shuddered at the thought.

Now, lying in a bed in St. Mungo's Massie stared up at the ceiling. She'd been trying to work up her mental strength. She knew she needed to eat, but every time she thought about the food, she felt like throwing it all up again. She knew it still had something to do with the control she had over it. She could control what she ate, and when.. but everything else she didn't have any control over.. and that scared her. As much as she missed her friends, and school.. she rather liked in the hospital. There was no stress of work to do.. and the nurses let her move at her own pace getting to eat again. They knew she was trying.. as best as she could anyway.

There was a knock on the door, and Massie looked over. The door was open, and there stood one person she'd been dreading to see. Lily. Don't get her wrong, she loved her friend.. to death, but she knew how Lily felt about the whole ordeal. About everything that's gone on this year.

She looked into her friend's eyes and could see the distress in them. She tried to smile, but it only ended up as a grimace. She couldn't bring herself to smile, she hadn't been able to since that night.

Lily seemed to take the grimace as a sign that she was allowed to come in, and truthfully that's how Massie wanted it to go. She didn't trust her voice at that moment. She felt as though if she tried to talk her voice would crack with emotion, and she didn't need that. Not now, not ever.

She watched as Lily took a seat next to her bed and looked down at her palms, not really knowing how to go from there. But after a few moments of silence her friend spoke up. "Hey," was all that she said, and Massie knew what she was fighting back. Her anger, her worry, her sadness, and her helplessness about not being able to do anything. To just have to sit back and watch Massie struggle with herself and try to overcome her battle. It must be like watching a wrestler get pummeled over and over again by another wrestler that was twice their size.

Then as if watching in slow motion, Lily broke down. She put her face into her hands and just sobbed while Massie sat there and watched, her heart breaking a bit more with every passing second. She knew that it was her fault that her friend was crying by her bedside in a hospital, but still she couldn't bring herself to do anything. She couldn't seem to find her voice, no comforting words, not even an 'I'm sorry'.. nothing.

After a few minutes Lily lifted her head and viciously wiped away a few stray tears. Massie could see that after letting her worry and helplessness out, all that was left was her anger. She prepared herself for what Lily was going to say, but only a few moments after her friend started talking did she realize that nothing could have prepared her for it.

"What are you doing?" she whispered heatedly to Massie, hot tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she did so. "Do you have any idea what this is doing to your family? Your friends? You!? Look at yourself! Look at what this is doing to you!" Her voice cracked slightly as she said that last part. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make Massie throw the warm sheets of the hospital bed off of her and stand up.

She looked at Lily once before she headed over to the bathroom, Lily following her. Her friend didn't say a word as Massie looked into the mirror and physically winced at the reflection that met her eyes. It wasn't her. It couldn't be her. She was abnormally pale.. almost albino-like, dark purple and black bags hung beneath her lifeless eyes. She shook her head, as if it would make the image go away, but it was a useless attempt. That reflection was her. The skinny and frail body looked limp and dead. Her skin looked like it was hugging her bones tightly. There was barely any muscle.. no fat. It was like looking at a decaying body that was somehow still breathing.

And it hit her. Just like that, how bad it all really was.

All of a sudden Massie's weak limbs gave out from underneath her as she crumpled to the floor. She leaned back against the door of the bathroom as salty tears poured from her eyes and down her cheeks. Lily was by her side in a second, wrapping her friend in a gentle hug, almost as if she held any tighter she might break the girl's body, and she cried with her.

A few moments later a nurse entered the room and looked down at the two crying girls crumpled against the door to the bathroom. Somehow she knew that realization had finally hit the patient with a mighty blow, and she turned to leave knowing that now was the time when she would need to have her friend. When she broke through the mental barriers in her head, and allowed herself to eat again.. gradually.

* * *

As June quickly swept in, Massie returned to school. It'd been two months since Lily had visited her in the hospital. Two more months of school that she'd missed on top of the one month before the visit, and the other month back in January. She's made a lot of progress in that time. Her body structure didn't look so frail anymore, and she actually had some meat on her bones. She looked somewhat.. normal. But there was still a long way for her to go. She had to meet up with her counselor twice a week to go through some mental practices, and had to visit St. Mungo's once every week for a check up on her progress. They weren't going to let it happen again.

At that moment the group consisting of Massie, Shaina, Lily, and the Marauders were seated at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Massie shot a glance behind her at Mike and gave him a weak smile. "So, how has he been?" she asked timidly as she looked back at her friends. She'd split up with Mike a week after Lily's visit. She really liked him, truly she did, but she just didn't feel like there was any spark left between them. She hadn't gotten to talk to him since she got back, he seemed to be avoiding her. So slowly her hopes for a friendship crumbled until she knew that it would be impossible. _Maybe acquaintances.. as long as it's not hate.._ she thought to herself, feeling a slight pang of jealousy as she thought about how Jon and Lily were still good friends, but she pushed the feeling away as she looked to her friends. She was good with the ones she had.. they were all she needed.

"Well he's been.. okay I guess," Lily replied, knowing from what Jon had told her that Mike had taken the break-up pretty badly, but he was moving on.. slowly, but surely.

"Oh."

"Let's talk about something else, um.." Sirius thought for a minute, and was just about to speak up when Peter beat him to it.

"We were thinking of setting off an end of the year prank," he grinned, proud of himself for thinking of a topic first, but as he looked at the girl's faces he knew he shouldn't have said it. They looked uneasy and unsure.

"Well.. as long as it's not like fourth year.." Shaina began as she thought back to that day when they'd stopped being friends.

The four boys looked down at the table and fidgeted slighting, knowing what was going through the girls mind. James was the first one to speak up. "Don't worry.. it wouldn't be."

"Good.." Lily said cautiously as she leaned against him, thinking about that day. It was just a few days after their first Hogsmeade trip of the year, and it was at dinner time. There was a loud explosion and the whole hall looked over to the Slytherin table where the glass plates and cups were shattering and hitting the Slytherins as they screamed, trying to duck away. She cringed slightly as she remembered it. Some of them were hurt pretty badly that day.

"You know.. it wasn't meant to happen like that," Remus said, guilt building up inside of him as the memory replayed in his own head.

"We figured, but it was more the.. carelessness of it all that got to us like that," Shaina replied squeezing his hand in hers underneath the table.

"Okay, well now that we got that out of the way," Sirius said with a big grin, clapping his hands together after a few moments of silence passed.

* * *

"I can't believe I have twice the work that you guys have to do over the summer," Massie groaned slamming her head back against the seat a bit harder than she meant to. The Hogwart's Express jolted to a start, and they were headed home.

"I can.. I mean, you missed four months of school all together," Shaina rolled her eyes, and the next thing she knew she was ducking to avoid being hit with a package of Bertie Bott's. "Hey!" she narrowed her eyes playfully at Massie who was looking out the window whistling as if it never happened.

"What?" she looked over to her friend with an innocent face. "I didn't know anything.. well, not really anyway." She grinned as Shaina got up from her seat and tackled her friend to the ground. Luckily, Massie's condition had improved well enough so that her muscles could withstand the pummeling.

They fell to the floor wrestling and laughing, accidentally knocking into Sirius and Peter's game of chess. "Oh now you guys are going to get it.. I was just about to beat him," Sirius mock glared at them as they stopped wrestling and backed into the wall with Sirius advancing toward them. He dove and began to tickle attack the two of them as they screeched and laughed trying to get him off of them. Giving each other a quick side glance they both nodded their heads slightly and turned the attack back on Sirius, both tickling him.

The others around the compartment just chuckled as Sirius screeched like a girl and began to laugh, the two girls not giving any mercy as he tried to pry them away from tickling his sides. "Ok, ok.." he gasped, laughing. "Sorry."

The two girls grinned triumphantly and stood up, dusting themselves off then turning and giving each other a high-five. They sat down as Sirius sat cross-legged on the ground, crossing his arms across his chest and pouting. "Aw.. baby Sirius a poor sport?" Massie joked, smirking at the boy.

"Nope!" Sirius stood up quickly, his mood changing in the snap of a finger, and sitting on top of Massie. She laughed and tried to push him off of her.

"Get off of me, you fat lump of lard," she laughing giving him one large shove, but it didn't really do anything but make him face her and grin.

"Oh is that how you think of me?" he looked down at her with a smirk. She narrowed her eyes at him and nodded her head. "Well.. if that's how it's going to be.." he trailed off and stood sitting as far away from her as possible and looking determinedly away from her.

She smirked and flattened out of jeans as if they needed flattening, and leaned against the window. She allowed the conversation in the compartment to buzz around her, not really paying attention all that mush as she let her own mind wander. She knew there was an attraction between her and Sirius, and she knew that he felt it too, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to give it a go. It'd only been a little over two months since her and Mike had broken up, and that's not really a long time considering the time they'd spent together. But as she thought about it more and more, she knew that she was ready. She wanted to be with him, but she didn't want to make the first move, no.. he was going to have to.

About half way through the train ride, Massie stood up. "I'm going to find the food trolley. Anyone want to come?" she asked, and Sirius stood up saying he would. "I thought you weren't talking to me?" she said raising an eyebrow, though her mind was praying that he wouldn't keep up with it.. even if he was only joking.

"I changed my mind," he flashed her a smile and followed her out of the compartment. As they walked down the hallway both of their minds wandered to each other. Sirius thinking about if he should ask her or not while she wondered when he was going to.

Sirius stopped all of a sudden, and Massie did too looking up at the boy before her. "What?" she asked, her heart speeding up slightly, hoping that he was going to ask her out.. or something of the sort.

"Well.. um," he looked down at her, and into her deep blue eyes. Courage suddenly filled him as his voice sounded more sure of itself. "I was wondering if you'd like to do something this summer with me.. like as more than friends."

Massie felt a grin spreading across her face as she nodded her head. An identical grin spread across Sirius' own face as he bent down kissing her lightly on the lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he pulled her into him as they deepened the kiss slightly. They both felt as if they could stay in that moment forever, and they wished they could. Everything was finally perfect.


End file.
